


hellfire

by triviatooru



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), Wizard101 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends Choi Beomgyu & Kang Taehyun, Blood and Gore, Boys Kissing, Choi Beomgyu Is Bad At Feelings, Choi Yeonjun Is Bad At Feelings, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Wizard101 AU, beomgyu!death wizard, beomgyu's parents are evil and neglectful, i said i wouldnt write enemies to lovers and here i am, kai!life wizard, soobin!life wizard, taehyun!balance wizard, yeonjun!fire wizard, yeonjun's parents are really strict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25545025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triviatooru/pseuds/triviatooru
Summary: yeonjun is the top wizard at the ravenwood school of magical arts. his whole life has been constructed for him by his eagerly ambitious father and his equally uncompromising mother. as much fun as constantly saving the realms of the spiral can be, yeonjun has always felt a burning in his stomach. a yearning for something, or someone, new. little does he know that beomgyu, a detached death wizard--who seemingly has a death wish--would be his poison of choice.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 19
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

yeonjun felt his eyes glaze over with pure disinterest as his parents ripped into him once more. only this time was different. it was in front of dalia falmea, his school professor. he wasn’t quite sure what the particular issue was this time but he could tell by the vein popping in his mother’s forehead that it wasn’t about a messy dorm room or forgotten dirty laundry. his mother might actually kill him and he had no idea why. professor falmea had always done a good job at shielding him as best as she could from his mother’s malicious vendetta towards him but even this time there was no saving him. words stuck out to him here and there such as: “ungrateful”, “lazy”, “failure”, but it was when the words “homeschool” left his mother’s mouth was when he decided to check back into the conversation.  
“what did you say?” he interrupted his mother quickly, which was definitely not the smartest move considering the way her eyes darted to him. he felt his hair stand on edge both from the power she was channeling and the pure dread coursing through his veins. he never thought his mother was capable of hurting him but moments like this really tested that boundary. he felt fear prickle at his skin as his mother took another fear-mongering step forward.  
“do i sense attitude, choi yeonjun?” his mother said through gritted teeth. he quickly looked to the floorboard of the fire school’s tower. he could only cower underneath his mother’s cruel daggers.  
luckily, professor falmea stepped in with an attempt to alleviate the tension between him and his mother. “i truly do think that yeonjun would have a better experience if he were to stay on campus. he’d be closer to headmaster and all his professors. i believe this is the most appropriate place for yeonjun to learn.”  
“with all due respect, i truly do think that yeonjun, my son, would feel better if he lived under our roof with our rules and stipulations. the headmaster seems too distracted lately, i’m sure he wouldn’t even notice yeonjun’s absence.” the well-practiced lie seeped from his mother’s lips and dripped onto the floor. it stared straight at him, taunting him to do something. as much as he hated everyone he went to school with he still valued the tiny crumb of freedom his parents had given him. sure, he spent said freedom alone in the library and in his room but there was something safe about wizard city that he didn’t think he could stand to lose. he felt pulled here and he was afraid that if he left, he would miss whatever it was that he’s been waiting for.  
“are you even paying attention? choi yeonjun, i swear…” his mother’s shrill voice snapped him back into focus as he felt himself automatically flinch away. “why are you cowering? do you want me to give you something to be scared about?” his mother had begun to withdraw her wand when, fortunately, his father stepped in, extending a hand to keep his mother in her place.  
“dear, i really think yeonjun is old enough to be able to live on campus. he hasn’t given us a single reason to pull him from ravenwood. his grades are still pristine. he’s on an advanced pathway regarding his studies at the school of fire. what more are you wanting from him.”  
his mother turned towards his father, a smile too sweet that it could have rotten teeth was plastered on her face, “you’re so right, honey. how impudent of me.” she stalked forward, her heels clicking on the floorboards. she bent down and placed her chilled lips over his forehead in a form of ghostly affection. he supposed it should have filled him with maternal love but it just left him petrified, trembling ever so slightly.  
his parents quickly left the tower, leaving him to soak up the words his mother hadn’t necessarily said but he knew she didn’t need to. he was walking on incredibly thin ice that seemed to only be getting thinner even with his latest accomplishments and hundreds of completed quests under his belt. he even had the headmaster’s unadulterated support. he was doing private studies with every single professor and had already accepted a quest to grizzleheim even though his age would not have normally permitted it.  
looking up, he made eye contact with the quiet flames of professor falmea’s eyes. he could feel every ounce of pity and sadness radiating heavily off of her like the sun emitting its rays. he could tell that if he were to stay here any longer she was going to ask him if he was okay and that just was not a question he ever knew how to answer, let alone with his professor. he brushed the hair out of his eyes and plastered on a facade. “i should be getting back to my dorm! i have a lot of homework i need to stay on top of if i plan on staying here.” quickly getting up and bowing out of respect to his teacher, he hastily rushed from the tower and headed straight for ravenwood’s dormitories. he had his eyes trained on the ground when he heard a soft poof. once he looked up, his eyes fixated on a golden letter floating in mid air. biting his lip, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the letter, peeling back the wax stamp. he recognized his mother’s handwriting instantly. he decided to skim the elegant penmanship to get the gist of what his mother had decided couldn’t wait until their next weekly visit. the words “moving home” and “effective immediately” stood out to him the most. he felt rage bubble up inside his stomach, screaming to be let out. a knot formed at the back of his throat, keeping all the anger at bay.  
of course his parents would go behind his back, as well as his professor’s and the headmaster’s. it was just so on brand for her that he almost wanted to vomit at how laughably predictable his mother was. he quickly ripped up the letter and flung it to the ground. he used his boot to ground the discarded pieces into the singed grass. he loved his mother with all his heart but sometimes she made living so unbearably difficult.  
yeonjun couldn’t go back to his dorm. he couldn’t go back to the fire tower and talk to his professor. and he really didn’t want to bug soobin. he was aware that soobin was currently getting a new student--hueningkai was the boy’s name--acclimated to life in wizard city. the headmaster had made it known to yeonjun that if heuningkai were a fire wizard, yeonjun would have been the first one he contacted; but since the kid was coming in as a life wizard and soobin was the top life wizard at the school, headmaster ambrose deemed soobin’s services slightly more appropriate. yeonjun had tried so hard to take it as a miracle and not a form of rejection and failure. logically, he knew soobin was a better fit. the school of life was a concept yeonjun struggled to grasp with all the gentleness and tenderness required. soobin just did it so well. he could hear soobin’s soft voice echo back in his head something along the lines of: “but you’re better at everything else”. it made his heart squeeze. he really missed his best friend. was he ever going to breathe those words aloud? absolutely not. 

***

yeonjun had found himself walking with no real purpose. he was just walking, desperately trying to push the dread that loomed over him down. it was only when he felt the air prick at his skin and the scent of rotting flesh did he realize where he was. nightshade. the school of death’s current residence since the professor decided to have a major depressive episode and attempted to destroy all of the spiral. he folded his arms around himself, trying to preserve any sense of heat he had within his robes. he peered at the rotting trees towering over him. the smell of soil and death filled his nostrils and made his nose crinkle. the soft brush under his feet made soft snaps as he continued making his way through the haunted residence.  
the next thing he knew he was sprawled out on his backside with a slender boy on top of him. the two could only stare at each other in complete disbelief. the boy had raven colored hair that gleamed in the ambient lighting of nightshade. the boy’s chocolate eyes narrowed quickly and the warmth of the boy’s body receded as he scurried off of him. the boy looked around desperately for something that must have gotten lost during the collision. yeonjun also began to look around and came to the realization that his foot was positioned directly over it. he bent down and picked up the wrinkled scroll, examining it ever so slightly before the boy had ripped it out of his hands. he thought to himself as the boy sprinted away in a whirl of black and grey. he had seen hundreds of quest scrolls, both issued by the headmaster and issued by the townspeople of different realms, and he had never seen a scroll that looked like that. and for some reason, he felt sick to his stomach. he knew the nausea wasn’t as a result of his mother, but the whims of a death student who seemed to have too much time on his hands. yeonjun knew he should just drop it. he literally had no idea who this boy was. he had never even heard of him. but something was telling him to rush after the boy. his legs had started to move before his mind was even made up. he allowed himself to be pulled by this mystical force after the boy.


	2. Chapter 2

choi beomgyu had woken up that morning knowing exactly what he had to do. he had received a letter the previous night from his parents that gave vague instructions for the quest he would be given. he had to discreetly make his way to nightshade--which was the easiest part of the quest considering no one thought much about a death wizard visiting the school of death. the next part was going to be tricky and he knew that if he got caught he would most likely be turned over to the headmaster and the quest would be a complete failure. and failure never boded with his parents. after receiving the quest from one of his parents' accomplices, he had to make his way to the world tree so he could then travel to dragonspyre and begin to participate in what his parents liked to refer to as “the family business”. his job was to destroy wizard city from the inside out.

everything had been going exactly to plan. he had made his way to nightshade unnoticed. he had received the quest with ease. it was when he was making his way out of the school of death did things take a turn for the worst. beomgyu hadn’t been paying much attention--he had been looking over the scroll for specifics on where exactly he needed to go once he got to dragonspyre-- and the next thing he knew he had toppled over a boy who appeared to be very close in age with him, yet he didn’t recognize him as a death wizard. he had placed both of his hands on either side of the boy’s head in order to get a hold of his bearings. the boy that stared back at him with pure bewilderment was possibly the most lovely person he had ever seen in all of his life. the first thing he fixated one was the mop of blue hair that sat disheveled on the boy’s head. the second thing he noticed was the hickory colored cat eyes: the shape of them being so elegant that he felt his throat close up. this was all before he became increasingly aware of the position he was in. he felt his face flush with astronomical embarrassment as he stumbled to his feet, trying to get his brain refocused on the quest and not the pretty boy standing in front of him. he wanted to tear his skin off and dig out the feeling that was festering inside of him: the need to see if his hair was as electric as it looked, the desire to put a name to his face.

swallowing the feeling, beomgyu glanced around for his scroll. his stomach dropped to his knees as he noticed it was nowhere to be found. he could already feel the words from his parents cutting through the air and he had to choke back the tears that were welling up at the corner of his eyes. the boy had bent down to retrieve the scroll when, before beomgyu could control himself, his hand reached out and tore it from the boy’s hands. he didn’t know this boy but he couldn’t take the risk of him figuring out that the quest scroll wasn’t school permitted. as soon as the scroll was secured within his robe, beomgyu bolted towards the doors leading towards the main part of wizard city. 

as he raced across the grass, dipping slightly into the pond that took up much of the property, and made his way to ravenwood. bursting through the doors, he raced to the world tree and scurried up the rooted trail leading to the door that held all the realms. out of the corner of his eyes, a flash of blue caught his eyes. he whipped around quickly and the breath caught within his throat. the pretty boy had followed him. the one thing he was betting on not happening--because why would anyone care about him enough to follow him? why would anyone care what he was doing?--had unraveled right in front of his eyes. beomgyu stalked over to the boy, commanding his staff to appear. he felt the firm rod begin to manifest itself in his hand as he began to draw on a spell. pretty boy’s eyes narrowed as he too summoned his scepter. the spell halted itself on the tip of beomgyu’s tongue as the boy’s eyes stared back at him. he quickly snapped himself out of it and let the magical words tumble from his mouth. with a whisk of his staff, the death spell known as “feint” did it’s damage; having sent yeonjun flying in mid-air until his body collided with the sleek floors as well as having knocked beomgyu back a few feet as well. that was the thing with death spells, the more powerful the spell is, the higher the chances of getting hurt becomes. but beomgyu had been using high level death spells for as long as he could remember. the fear of the fallout had never once stopped him. 

he used his staff to help himself to his feel and quickly glanced over at the boy who lay in a disheveled mess several hundred feet away. biting his lip, he knew he should have just made a run for it. he knew he should have forgotten about the wounded boy and been on his way. the quest was more important and he knew that deep down, but something was keeping him pinned to the ground. maybe spending a couple seconds giving the boy a potion or two would help make this disgusting feeling go away. 

beomgyu nodded to himself and made his way over to the boy. he crouched down, extending his hand to see if the boy was emitting a death aura but all he could sense was inexplicable heat.. the next thing he knew he was being flown backwards by a manifestation of a phoenix, its’ searing talons tearing holes into his robes and smoldering the skin underneath. a scream left his mouth as the bird flew him up towards the branches of the ancient tree before diving down and flinging him against the floorboards. he yelled upon impact, curling in on himself as the pain began to radiate all throughout his body.  
he could only breathe deeply, feeling the way his lungs expanded and deflated as the phoenix loomed over him. he feared moving too quickly would cause panic to overtake him. he could handle the pain but he knew panic would be a difficult enemy. the heat radiating off of the bird was enough to make him break into a hard sweat. his body felt absolutely broken. this boy had to be around the same age as him, yet here the boy was, summoning a phoenix. the only reason beomgyu knew advanced spells was from his parents. this boy could not possibly be old enough to know such a powerful spell, but here beomgyu was, writhing on the floor because he was pretty sure both his wrists were either sprained or fractured. remembering the situation he was in and what exactly was at stake, beomgyu quickly forgot about his defeated body and scrambled out from underneath the grip of the bird just in time to witness it dissipate back to the realm to which it was summoned from. he smirked and shook his head at himself. of course this boy was a fire wizard. now that he looked at the boy--truly examined him for more than just his beauty--he noticed the way his eyes glowed like embers smoking on a fire. he noticed the obsidian and gold colored robes that unmistakingly belonged to a student from the fire school. how could he have missed the warmth radiating out of him. this boy was a walking ray of sunlight. 

beomgyu pulled out a potion from his pack and crushed it in his battered, bloody hands, feeling the soothing liquid absorb quickly into his bloodstream. he felt the singed skin left from the firebird begin to scab over and heal. he felt the bones and ligaments in his limbs push and pull back into form. glancing at the boy once more, beomgyu noticed that he, too, was reeling from some aches and pains left by beomgyu’s feint. biting the inside of his cheek, he made his way over to the boy, extending his hand that held another potion bottle.  
the boy looked up at him, a deep-set frown plaguing his features. the boy looked from him to the potion bottle then back up to him. gods, if looks could kill… “if this is your definition of an olive branch, you can take that potion bottle and shove it up your ass.”  
beomgyu felt his lips curl up into a smile, because what was a fire wizard without a little spunk and stubbornness. “just take it.”

“i don’t want it. what i do want is an explanation as to what kind of quest that is that you have?” the boy demanded. 

“you won’t take a potion, but you’re willing to sit here and interrogate me over a quest you’re not familiar with? who the hell are you?”

“if you won’t tell me, i’ll have no choice but to turn you over to headmaster ambrose.” 

beomgyu was pretty sure that if his eyes had rolled any harder they would have flung themselves out of his eye sockets. “you’re going to tattle on me. that’s it? no grand spell you want to threaten me with? not gonna threaten me with your wizard chums?”  
it was the boy’s turn to smirk, the fire growing in his eyes. “i don’t need any ‘chums’ in order to defeat you. it took one spell and you were on the ground screaming. so, i guess i’ll let you pick your poison: headmaster, grand spell, or these so-called ‘chums’ you’re certain i have.”

this boy was making death by phoenix sound incredibly appealing, but too much time had been wasted already. he couldn’t spare another minute arguing with this pretty yet equally ignorant fire wizard. he gnawed on the inside of his cheek as he measured the distance from where he was standing and the realm door. underestimating the boy’s speed would cost him greatly, so beomgyu knew he was going to have to be fast.  
he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes so he could center himself properly. with a swoosh of his staff and a look of surprise from the boy, beomgyu chanted the spell to inflict poison onto his opponent. as soon as the last phrase left his mouth and he watched the boy collapse to the ground, coughs retching out of his body, beomgyu scrambled to the door. he pictured dragonspyre and allowed himself to slowly dissipate. before he closed his eyes, he saw the blue haired boy rushing at him with unbridled rage-filled eyes. the boy’s hands made contact with the collar of beomgyu’s robes just in time to whisk both of them away to the far away realm of dragonspyre, a land not meant for wizards with their particular set of skills.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i just wanna thank you guys for reading this fic! i was really skeptical about even making an attempt at it considering how my other fic turned out--forgotten. i'm working super hard on being consistent and pumping out chapters daily so i can finish it before my commitment issues come into play! the last chapter was kind of filler considering i needed to get beomgyu introduced. but this chapter, you guys. maybe my literature major isn't useless after all. anyways, please continue to read and comment! and once again, thank you so much! 
> 
> also slight trigger warning! there's vomit in this chapter! so, please be wary if you're sensitive to that stuff! enjoy!

beomgyu felt his body tumble over itself through the portal; blues and purples plaguing his vision as he made his way to dragonspyre. it felt like he had a whole circus in his stomach and he could taste bile in his mouth. his felt his body come into contact with a hard surface before the boy quickly collided with him, causing the surface beneath him to give way. beomgyu and the fire wizard spilled out of the door, onto the rough cobblestone of the basilica. beomgyu shoved the boy off of him and swiftly got up, peering down at his quest scroll to see what the next instructions. step three of the quest had been less than successful but at least he made it to dragonspyre in one piece. he wasn’t too worried about the boy, considering how under-ranked both of them were. he could sense the power and expertise being casted off of the boy but beomgyu also understood that there was a reason only specifically ranked wizards were allowed to come here. natural talent and a few powerful spells weren’t going to cut it here.

beomgyu just hoped that the boy would die as soon as they got into the dungeon so he wouldn’t have to do it himself. he had grown accustomed to assisting his parents with their treasonous plans but the idea of actively having to kill someone was something that never sat right with him. his parents had tried so hard to desensitize him as a child: forcing him to kill animals, making him witness their gruesome torture sessions on other wizards for information, the whole nine yards. and it did work to a certain extent. beomgyu definitely knew he didn’t feel things like he should. in reality, he didn’t feel anything. well, he figured out that he can experience finding someone to be pretty all thanks to this of this stupid fire wizard. but most emotions he knew normal people felt were ones he just never recalled ever feeling. he never got excited. never truly happy nor genuinely angry. never sad nor disappointed. he just felt hollow and void with a dash of hostility. he quite liked it, really. it allowed him to work solely with his brain instead of allowing disgusting feelings to get in the way. it also kept him isolated from the people that did think with their hearts instead of their heads. but having to sit and watch the life drain from the boy’s eyes--the boy that had made him feel something other than empty. he just knew he wouldn’t be able to do it. he couldn’t even bring himself to think about it: the rigor mortis setting in, the skin becoming cool to the touch as the blood in the boy’s body slowly stops circulating, the pretty pink color of the boy’s lips fading to a soft blue. the knot that had been forming in the back of his throat finally rose up enough to trigger the contents of his stomach to be emptied out onto the stone marble. 

he fell to his knees, the acidity burning his nose. warmth seeped through his robes as he felt a hand steady his convulsions. another balmy hand came up to push his bangs back from his sweaty forehead. he looked up to make eye contact with those same feline eyes and felt the same grotesque feelings that had overtaken him during nightshade. it made his stomach squeeze as another way of nausea came over him, making him curl in on himself helplessly. the hand on his back began to rub circles and more warmth flowed through him. he knew it was supposed to be a comforting gesture but it felt more invasive than anything. he swatted the boy off of him and brought his sleeve to his mouth, wiping off the bile that rimmed his lips. those same hands came back, offering a tiny pouch of water. beomgyu tried to focus on what the boy was saying but nothing was coming out clearly.   
the pouch of water was brought closer to his mouth and beomgyu’s eyes darted towards the boy, full of suspicion and distrust. the boy nodded reassuringly; and against everything beomgyu’s brain was screaming, he allowed the boy to pour water into his mouth. 

“i’m choi yeonjun, by the way. figured that if we die here, we might as well be amicable towards each other,” the boy said with a tiny smirk.

beomgyu mumbled out his name in between gulps of water, before nearly choking. amicable? the boy nearly killed him. invaded on an incredibly important quest. and this boy--this choi yeonjun--thought that giving him water would erase the last thirty minutes. beomgyu was right. he was stupid. pretty, but very stupid. with that thought, beomgyu kept a mouthful of water inside his cheeks, gazed up at the boy, and spat it at his face. the boy quickly recoiled, shoving beomgyu away from him, and let out a string of loud curse words. 

“i don’t know if you were dropped on your head one too many times as a child but what the hell makes you think i want to be friends with you?” beomgyu hurled the words at him before grabbing his discarded quest off the floor and getting to his feet. 

yeonjun got to his feet as well, following beomgyu out of the basilica and up towards the atheneum. “maybe if you would be honest about the quest you’re on, i wouldn’t have followed you.”

beomgyu whipped around and threw yeonjun the most venomous look that he could. “i’m not responsible for your impulsive decisions, choi yeonjun. besides, you’re a big boy. figure a way out.” he dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand before setting off to find the next checkpoint. 

yeonjun continued to follow him though. “if all you could cast on me was ‘feint’ i’m pretty sure me being here is more essential than me not being here is. you’re going to get yourself killed with those puny spells you have.” 

beomgyu kept his eyes trained on his surroundings, looking for any fiends lurking in the darkness. “i casted ‘feint’ on you because i didn’t want to actually murder you. sorry for not wanting blood on my hands when you’re the one that got in the way and followed me, remember?” 

he heard yeonjun scoff beside him, “as if you could kill me with your death spells. what are you gonna do? cast rotting corpse six times and just pray that it does the trick?”  
beomgyu wanted to reach up and tear every single strand of hair from his scalp. biting back the desire to butcher the boy right there, he continued to analyze the environment much like how his parents taught him, plus it served as a good distraction. “i will pay you ten million gold pieces if you shut the hell up,” he spoke softly this time. he knew they were entering enemy territory and he didn’t want yeonjun’s bitching or his own retorts to get them killed. 

***

the boys had been walking for quite some time, slowly making their way through the upper levels of the chasms. beomgyu knew exactly where they were headed and would hide the scroll every time yeonjun would try and peak a look. but that didn’t stop yeonjun from bitching the entire trip up towards the crown of fire. 

“are you looking for reagents? the bazaar in olde town sells most of that shit, you realize that right?” yeonjun quipped in. 

“can you please shut up. please. i’m begging you at this point,” beomgyu pleaded, “i’m not looking for stupid reagents. why would i come here for reagents?”

yeonjun shrugged, “you were stupid enough to come here only being a magus necromancer. i’m not shitting on your ranking, because i’m also a magus pyromancer, but come on, i’m more qualified to be here than you and i still haven’t gotten my admittance into dragonspyre yet.”

“see, you’re talking but literally no one is listening to you,” beomgyu said through gritted teeth. 

“no, i’m being serious. you being incompetent really isn’t your fault. it probably has a lot to do with your school and, well, yeah, i guess it kinda is your fault, but that’s beside the point.” 

beomgyu stopped, checking the runes that were printed on the outline of the doors. they were definitely in the right place. the dungeon that was most likely going to get both him and yeonjun a slow and excruciating death. his parents had only told him stories about the dungeon because they never dared go inside it themselves. but of course they felt not a single ounce of repentance for sending their only child into the dungeon to do their dirty work. beomgyu stopped caring about that a long time ago. he knew his purpose was to do the things his parents feared to do. they raised him to not fear death. encouraged him to enroll as a death student. sent him on suicide missions. and beomgyu never batted an eye. 

he spared a glance at yeonjun only to see the blue haired boy staring at the doors with pure, unadulterated terror. “what the hell are we doing here?” 

beomgyu bit his lip, looking down at his fingers, “it’s for my quest.” 

yeonjun let out a humorless laugh, “that’s bullshit and we both know it. if you’re expecting me to go along with this then you’re going to have to tell me what the hell kind of quest this is.” 

beomgyu ignored yeonjun’s panic and began to work on getting the dungeon to open. they didn’t have authorized access so they were going to have to force it open themselves. “can you help me? we need to get the dungeon doors open.” 

“absolutely not! i’m not helping you any more than i already have until you tell me what the hell is going on in there.” 

beomgyu wanted to scream. first of all, yeonjun hadn’t been doing anything remotely productive for either of them besides testing beomgyu’s ability to not feel anger. second of all, yeonjun had no idea the self control it was taking beomgyu to not annihilate him off the face of the spiral. third of all, yeonjun’s advanced spells were quite literally the only thing keeping that boy alive. beomgyu exclaimed,“i need to get inside! that’s all you have the right to know!”

“see, that’s where you’re wrong, beomgyu. if i’m going into the crown of fire with someone who clearly has a death wish, i want to know what i’m putting my life on the line for! tell me right now or i will strike you down where you stand. and it’ll be worse than a fire phoenix.”

beomgyu halted his moving hands, biting the inside of his cheek and slowly turning towards yeonjun. “inside this dungeon is something that my parents vitally need. i-” beomgyu paused, “in order for them to see me as someone more than a pawn for their   
bidding, i need to retrieve it.” he began to get back to work, the dungeon opening millimeter by millimeter. 

yeonjun raised an eyebrow at him, “excuse me? who the hell are your parents think they are and why do they need something from within this dungeon?”

“yeonjun, please-” beomgyu began but was swiftly interrupted by yeonjun. 

“who the hell are your parents? what makes them think they have any right to whats inside that dungeon? why are you the one in charge of acquiring it? do they realize that we’re probably not going to make it out?”

“they’re betting on me not making it out,” beomgyu mumbled softly, his hands faltering

“okay, you answered one out of the four questions i asked. how about you answer the first one now: who are your parents?” 

by this time, beomgyu had gotten the dungeon doors open enough for both of them to be able to squeeze in through. he walked towards yeonjun and grabbed his hand, trying desperately to ignore the electric currents flowing through him as he did so--and how warm yeonjun’s hand felt in his cold grasp. he dragged the boy towards the doors and shoved him through the tiny opening, following suitly. as soon as beomgyu made it through, the dungeon door shut with a loud thud. they had finally made it within the crown of fire and there genuinely was no going back. if yeonjun was going to die in this dungeon, the information pertaining to beomgyu and his parents would die with him. as morbid as it was, it acted as a blanket of security for him knowing that whatever   
yeonjun learned wouldn’t make it out of this dungeon. beomgyu began slowly, “my name is choi beomgyu. my parents are-”

yeonjun interrupted him once more, his voice booming “choi beomgyu?” the color drained from his face as realization dawned on him, “your parents are wanted for high treason and murder!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're feeling spicy pls come and talk to me on twitter! i'm @beomherondale


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have playlists made for beomgyu, yeonjun, as well as their relationship as a whole! you can check them out on spotify! my @ is seraphmyg and the playlists are just "beomgyu" and "yeonjun" ! the caption also says that they're for "hellfire" too if that helps you navigate through my playlists! and then the relationship playlist is titled "hellfire"! i rely heavily on these playlists to help myself get in the zone for each character and they also act as a sort of soundtrack for the fic as well! i would love it if you guys checked those out!   
> anyways, thank you so much for your support and your comments and your kudos! please continue reading my fic and letting me know how you like it! it means so much to me!

yeonjun could only stare at beomgyu with unalloyed disgust. the boy he had been following around this entire time was the spawn of two of the most malevolent wizards in all of the spiral. the boy he had let lead him to the crown of fire was raised by wizards who believed good hobbies to keep were tormenting people to the point that their bodies were too mangled for identification. but he couldn’t even blame beomgyu. if yeonjun had been more cautious and hd not let a lovely face manipulate him into participating in a quest he had no business being apart of, he definitely would not have been in this situation. he so desperately wanted to make a break for the dungeon doors but it dawned on him that they didn’t even have permission to be inside of the crown of fire! he had been too busy bombarding beomgyu about who his parents were and he hadn't even stopped to watch as beomgyu had to tamper with the runes on the door in order to get them in. if it took that much effort to get inside, yeonjun didn’t want to think about how difficult it would be to try and get back out; especially when he hadn’t even been paying attention the first time. 

yeonjun looked up in time to see beomgyu making his way down the sidewalk already. sprinting to catch up, yeonjun shouldered the boy quite hard, “you don’t even care that i figured out who your parents were? you’re not going to pull the old ‘now that you know i have to kill you’ bit?”

yeonjun saw the slow grin creep onto beomgyu’s face as those alluring eyes fixed on him. “what are you gonna do? tattle on me? you don’t really seem to be in the position to do so.” 

his breath caught in his throat. beomgyu really was going to kill him. he genuinely wasn’t making it out of this dungeon alive. his footsteps came to a halt as did beomgyu’s. he could hear the eyeroll in beomgyu’s voice as he spoke, “oh my gods, would you relax? i’m not going to kill you! you were right before, when you said you’re more essential being here than not,” beomgyu paused, both his eyes and his voice filled with an unearthly emptiness, “but you know, people like you are the reason why i don’t ever associate myself with my parents in wizard city. do you even realize the way you’re looking at me right now? i don’t even have a weapon drawn and you’re acting like i already stabbed you or some shit. i get you’re some hot shot pyromancer but my parents being who they are doesn’t somehow make me any less than you.”

yeonjun flinched away from the words as of they had physically slapped him across the face, “i didn’t say-”

beomgyu shook his head, maintaining eye contact whilst giving no real emotion away, “you didn’t have to, yeonjun. i know the kind of person you are. don’t you think the headmaster already knows? he wouldn’t have let me anywhere near the school if i was exhibiting similar traits as my parents. are you seriously that dense?” 

yeonjun tried again, “you have to understand the circumstances i’m in, beomgyu. we’re in a dungeon not many wizards have made it out alive from, let alone under ranked wizards like us-”

“save it, please. i’m sure your well rehearsed response is worth the seconds i’d waste by listening to it but i don’t give a single shit about what you have to say at this point. maybe next time, if you can fix the way you’re looking at me, i’ll be willing to hear you out.”

with that, beomgyu turned on his heel and made his way down the stoney sidewalk. yeonjun stumbled after him, keeping his head down. he could tell his cheeks were bright red from embarrassment. beomgyu’s hand grabbing his wrist snapped him out of his pity party as he was dragged behind one of the large columns that decorated the streets. he huddled closely next to beomgyu as the boy surveyed the scene. beomgyu leaned in close to yeonjun’s ear, speaking in a hushed voice that brought chills down his spine, “one of the guards and a couple minions are patrolling the streets. they’re coming up towards our side. we’re lucky it’s not a hoard of fiends but we’re still going to have to take them out. up for it?” his voice lifted a bit at the end of his question, a ghost of playfulness. yeonjun nodded, making quick to summon his scepter as beomgyu mobilized his staff. they crept silently through the shadows that hung lazily off the buildings. yeonjun kept his eyes trained on beomgyu, looking for the sign to move in on the enemy; but all yeonjun could actually seem to focus on was the way that beomgyu was a vision of slate, off-white, and noir. the hard line of his armor paired well with the obsidian staff clutched tightly in his hand. snapping out of his inner monologue, he was greeted with an eerie grin plastered on beomgyu’s face. once again, yeonjun’s cheeks flared up and he quickly coughed out a response in order to offset the attention, “are we moving in now?”

beomgyu chuckled softly, “don’t let me intrude in on whatever you were doing.” with that, yeonjun reeled his staff back and wacked beomgyu hard on his shin. the boy let out a loud howl, shoving yeonjun away from him. “what the hell is your-” out of the corner of yeonjun’s eye he saw a bolt of fire being launched straight at them. he urged his body to move and yet he stood frozen there, because what could a magus wizard do against fiends like them? what did yeonjun have that could possibly save them.   
beomgyu saw it at the same time and dove for yeonjun, knocking him to the ground--and the breath out of his lungs-- as the fireball flew over them. the spell surged towards the building behind them, creating a beautiful blazing sight. it was almost mesmerizing if beomgyu hadn’t been tearing yeonjun from the ground and hauling him towards the monsters anticipating them. 

another impending fireball was shot straight at beomgyu and he blocked it at the last second, but was still flung backwards by the mere impact of the spell. yeonjun breathed out the incantation for the spell “choke” and spun quickly around to hurl it at the enemies. the spell would leave the fiends immobilized long enough for yeonjun to check on beomgyu; which apparently, wasn’t needed because beomgyu had already been on his feet, the sleeves of his robe were tore open to reveal terrible road burn from the way he must have slid across the cobblestone. the blood was pumping pervasively out of both of his forearms, but beomgyu simply tucked his head and took off racing towards the enemies. beomgyu twirled his staff above his head, the molecules around him vibrating as he chanted the words of what yeonjun could only assume was a spell that was way out of his league. he could tell from the way beomgyu’s hands shook violently as he screeched out the final phrases. slowly, the road beneath beomgyu and the fiends began to crumble from underneath them. beomgyu quickly hurried back, continuing to spin his staff above his hand with one hand and the other was raised in an attempt to further the strength being radiated into the spell. he emitted unbridled power. for the first time in yeonjun’s life, he was genuinely intimidated by a wizard. 

yeonjun sat and watched as the monster beomgyu summoned climbed from the depths of the earth. with a loud guttural roar the beast swung its large blade towards the group of minions positioned below it. the blade left a large tear in the road as the minions were sliced and diced in mid-air. blood painted the roads, creating obscure patterns from the tearing out of blade through flesh. the monster then swept up the dismembered pieces left behind and flung them towards the building that had been set ablaze from the spell casted that had been casted earlier. the monster then looked at the main guard, who was making an attempt to summon its’ own spell, before it reeled it’s blade back and sliced clean through the guard’s neck, leaving the guard crumbling next to it’s discarded head. gobs of blood flowed freely from the severed head and the body. blood dripped off of the monster’s blade as it searched for any other targets, instantly locking eyes with beomgyu. yeonjun snapped up in a flash and was dashing towards the boy, praying he got there in time as he watched beomgyu become seemingly ready to perish by the monster’s blade. beomgyu glanced at yeonjun, “stop!” he yelled before speaking softly, “just wait.”   
the towering monster kneeled before beomgyu, blood still dripping from its menacing blade as yeonjun saw the coal black eyes of the monster look beomgyu up and down. yeonjun’s brain screamed at him to move, to do something. he wanted desperately to leap in front of him. he wasn’t sure what beomgyu was doing but he could see the veins popping out of beomgyu’s neck and the fatigue beginning to set in. the beast nodded his head towards beomgyu before it slowly began to deteriorate before their eyes.   
yeonjun rushed towards beomgyu, gripping the boys lithe shoulders. he watched as his eyes rolled back in his head and caught him as he went limp in his arms. he supported the boy’s weight as best as he possibly could, having grabbed ahold of his arm and used it to haul him on top of his back. he made his way down the sidewalk for a couple minutes, looking for any place that would offer some kind of safety to the both of them. he had come across a sketchy looking house with boarded up, glassless windows and a roof that appeared to be ready to concave in at any moment. perfect, yeonjun thought. 

he set beomgyu down beside the steps leading up to the front door. summoning his scepter once more, he nudged the door open while chanting a luminescence spell to create light in the dark house. having peered into each bedroom, he quickly came to the conclusion that this was genuinely as good as it was going to get. yeonjun went back to retrieve beomgyu from where he lay, nestled against the rotting wood of the steps. dragging the boy into the house, yeonjun all but threw him onto the dusty couch, smiling to himself. for never participating in any “team-up’s”, yeonjun had to admit that he was pretty good at it. apart from his partner collapsing from exhaustion, of course.   
yeonjun sat down on the dusty floors and leaned his head on the coffee table that was situated a few feet in front of the couch. his head whirled with all the events that had unfolded from today. he wanted to reach out and grab ahold of just one but his brain refused to slow down. so, instead, he thought of the boy. choi beomgyu. the boy who was putting his life on the line for parents that obviously didn’t care if he made it out alive. parents that would probably disown him if he did. a boy who, from what yeonjun could see, never truly felt anything, just simply felt ghosts of emotions. a boy who protected him after yeonjun had accused him of planning to murder him. a boy who casted a spell that had the power to kill all of them had he not been careful. a boy who would have gladly accepted death by blade. yeonjun couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and carding his fingers through beomgyu’s raven locks. they were as soft as they had looked from the moment yeonjun first saw him in nightshade. he knew he shouldn’t let himself ponder such thoughts about beomgyu, but having thought back to the very moment beomgyu had decided he was ready to die, yeonjun couldn’t get it out of his head. the look of contentment and the way beomgyu’s eyes softened at his impending death. yeonjun yearned to know what had been going through his head at that very moment, as if the last thoughts of choi beomgyu would have been, “finally”. 

yeonjun’s eyes had begun to feel heavy and the boy laying on the couch had become a blur. it wasn’t long until yeonjun was whisked away into a dream filled with tombstones and a boy with inky black hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to write action based off of turn based/card based combat is surprisingly difficult, you guys! but alas, that was chapter four! i really hope you guys liked it!   
> my twitter is beomherondale is you wanna stop on over and chat with me!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm super sorry for not posting! i wasn't feeling well emotionally but i'm back! ugh!! this chapter is so soft and lovely and i'm really happy with it :,) i was desperate for some softness and so i gave in and wrote out a soft scene! i hope you like it!

yeonjun had been sorting his equipment in his pack when beomgyu finally began to come to. he had glanced up at the boy as soon as he had heard rustling coming from the couch, concern tearing a hole in his heart. beomgyu made eye contact with yeonjun, hostility ever present in those eyes even as yeonjun saw beomgyu physically try and hide it. beomgyu had quickly gotten to his feet when yeonjun witnessed a wave of nausea overtake the boy. he jumped to his feet just in time to support beomgyu, allowing his own body to catch the weight of the boy. beomgyu gazed up at him and this time yeonjun noticed that the hostility had been replaced with something else, something yeonjun couldn’t decipher. from the few times beomgyu had let yeonjun comfort him, he had noticed that the boy was extremely cold. he couldn’t tell if that was merely a death wizard thing or simply a choi beomgyu thing. yeonjun couldn’t help but take into account how well the willowy boy fit in his arms. not that he had ever thought about it before. it just felt almost… nice to feel the warmth of someone else’s body against his. 

the moment didn’t last very long before beomgyu was shoving yeonjun away from him. the boy glanced around at his surroundings, perplexed. he looked back at yeonjun, his eyebrows furrowed, “where in the actual hell are we?” 

yeonjun sighed, running a hand through his hair. “you fainted after the last spell you casted and i had to bring you here so we didn’t get mauled by other monsters lurking around,” before yeonjun could bite the words back, they were already tumbling  
helplessly out of his mouth, “not even a ‘thank you’. i could have left you out there, you know? let them tear you apart.”

beomgyu scoffed, leaning against the rotting door frame, “do you have a motive behind everything you do? are you that insecure that you need me to thank you for having any sense of morals? besides, you don’t know how to get out so as much as i need you, you also need me.”

yeonjun actually wanted to run his head through the wooden coffee table. he really didn’t mean it like that and he genuinely could not explain why some of the things he said ever came out of his mouth. he was grateful that beomgyu was safe; that they both were. yeonjun knew he wouldn’t have left him out there in an unconscious state no matter the circumstances. this whole trip had just felt like word vomit. everything beomgyu said, it was like yeonjun blacked out and by the time he finally checked back in he had already said a bunch of bullshit. it felt like yeonjun just couldn’t hold any sort of conversation with the boy without being an asshole. biting his lip, yeonjun tried again, this time in a completely different direction, “can you tell me about yourself?” when beomgyu looked at him skeptically, yeonjun added quickly, “if you want to, i mean! i just figured, back there, you were right. i know of what your parents have done but not about you. i just thought that if we don’t make it out of here…” yeonjun trailed off, too embarrassed to finish his sentence. 

beomgyu had quietly come down to sit next to where yeonjun resided. yeonjun could feel the chill through beomgyu’s robes where their shoulders brushed. yeonjun had to dig his nails into the wood floors in order to keep his arm from reaching out to pull the boy closer. but he didn’t need to because yeonjun’s hand was already resting upon beomgyu’s lap upon, the raven haired boy fidgeting softly with yeonjun’s fingers. “do you mind?” beomgyu asked as if he already knew the answer.

yeonjun had to bite back the smile that was tugging on the corners of his lips. he quickly shook his head and relaxed his arm, allowing beomgyu to furl and unfurl his fingers. yeonjun found himself spacing out at beomgyu’s pink lips, waiting for whatever words would be formed by them. his cheeks flamed up as he suddenly noticed that beomgyu had, in fact, been saying something to him. “i’m sorry. what did you say?”

beomgyu’s mouth lifted upwards in a phantom of a smile. “i asked if you would go first.”

yeonjun’s eyes widened. he hadn’t been expecting beomgyu to remotely be curious about him. maybe the boy was still exhausted. or the fall from back in the spiral tree was finally starting to get to him. nonetheless, he could tell that opening up first would allow beomgyu the security he needed. yeonjun paused ever so slightly before delicately grabbing ahold of beomgyu’s wrist and running his fingers along the lines that decorated beomgyu’s palm. beomgyu flinched under his touch, but didn’t pull away. so, so yeonjun started, “ahh. well, my name is choi yeonjun-”

beomgyu chuckled humorlessly, “that makes sense.”

yeonjun’s eyebrows furrowed but his fingers never stopped moving, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

beomgyu shrugged, fixated on the way yeonjun traced his heart line, “your parents are just as infamous as mine. well, except for the whole high treason and murder shit. but still, nonetheless, infamous.”

yeonjun could only laugh at that because beomgyu was right. yeonjun’s parents were just as bad as beomgyu’s but just in two completely different directions. yeonjun looked down at beomgyu, who had been staring at him already, and quickly noted how beomgyu’s eyes encapsulated the stars. he couldn’t maintain eye contact and let his eyes become preoccupied with how tiny beomgyu’s hand looked within his. “as i was saying, before i was rudely interrupted, choi is my surname and i derive from a family of elite assholes,” beomgyu let out a chortle, “my father isn’t the problem. he tries his best which is, i guess, all he really can do. my mother, though, is incredibly insufferable. i love her, of course. she raised me and gave me everything she never had. it’s just that… when i’m in that house i feel like i can’t breathe. and the feeling never stops. even when i’m here, i feel her hands tightening around my throat, looking for every opportunity to yank me from ravenwood and enroll me in private lessons. i don’t get out much but living on campus is the only thing saving me from casting helephant on myself.”

another snicker came from beside him as beomgyu interjected, “i heard fire wizards are supposed to be lots of fun. parties. girls. a surplus of friends.”

this time it was yeonjun’s turn to laugh, “i have no idea who the hell has been filling your head with that bullshit but if i were you i would cast wraith on their asses,” this earned him the softest of smiles, “i’ve never been to a single party. never talked to a single girl. never had a single friend. and i’m not very fun either. i don’t really have time for any of those things. i’m pretty sure if i even alluded to liking someone in a romantic fashion, my mother would pull me out of school. she wants my studies and training to always come first. always. even now, i’m currently being pulled from ravenwood because she doesn’t believe i can keep up with her demands when i’ve been exceeding everyone’s expectations besides her’s.” his voice cracked ever so slightly on the last word but he knew beomgyu caught it by the way his hand clasped tightly around yeonjun’s fingers. 

beomgyu then surprised yeonjun for the second time that night. beomgyu had flipped yeonjun’s hand over and had begun to hesitantly mimic the motions of tracing the lines that littered yeonjun’s palm. he could physically see the effort on beomgyu’s face, desperately trying to get his voice to match the words forming on the tip of his tongue, “i’m really sorry your mother is an actual heinous bitch,” he tried to sound sentimental but he didn’t really work.

yeonjun nodded and spoke in a hushed voice, “it’s okay.”

beomgyu let out a sigh before quietly beginning his story, “my parents are a lot like those evil villains you see in all those films. except i had to bear witness to every single revolting thing they’ve ever done. and as soon as i turned 10, they decided i was at an appropriate age to begin assisting them with some of their expeditions. i was so young that i simply assumed this was how life was supposed to be. i thought parents showed love and affection through forcing you to clean up the torture chambers and burn the butchered bodies. i thought love was that big knot that forms in the back of your throat and the tears that well up but never fall because any ounce of weakness got you sent to your bedroom with no social interaction for a month. it wasn’t until i was forcibly enrolled into ravenwood when i quickly learned that my parents were actual pieces of garbage-shit,” he took a breath, his hand clutching onto yeonjun’s pointer and middle finger for support, “that didn’t stop me from loving them. much like how you still love your mom, i still love my parents. i don’t exactly know what ‘love’ entails but i know that what i feel towards them somehow consulates as love.” 

yeonjun was speechless. he knew that beomgyu’s childhood was most likely tragic considering his parents but he coudn’t have even guessed to what extent that tragedy meant. yeonjun must have been working on auto pilot because his hand lifted off of beomgyu’s lap and was about to card through his dark locks when he quickly realized what he was just about to do. beomgyu quickly caught on as well. the stars in the boy’s eyes twinkled as he nodded his head in affirmation. yeonjun slowly--and with complete terror--dipped his fingers down and carded his fingers through the soft, dark strands. he noticed the way that beomgyu tried not to flinch but the twitch in his eye gave it away. yeonjun quickly began to recede his hand when beomgyu grabbed his wrist and shook his head. he spoke softly, “i’m okay. go ahead.” 

while beomgyu was busy with yeonjun’s unoccupied hand, yeonjun ran his fingers through the brunette locks. he brushed his fingers underneath beomgyu’s bangs and swept it back away from his forehead. an audible gasp left yeonjun’s mouth as he is brained was filled with one thought: beomgyu was truly beautiful; beautiful in such a twisted and tragic way that only choi beomgyu could be. it felt like yeonjun’s heart was beating out of his rib cage.  
but that’s how yeonjun sat the rest of the night. his hand tangled in beomgyu’s hair as beomgyu traced intricate patterns on his palm. he felt otherworldly.  
an hour or so had passed and yeonjun hadn’t even noticed the heavy breathing until he glanced down and saw beomgyu’s head resting crookedly on his shoulder. placing his hand underneath beomgyu’s head, yeonjun slowly lifted up as to not alert the boy awake. then, cradling his head in his hand, yeonjun laid beomgyu back on the wooden floor. quickly snatching a dusty pillow off of the even dustier couch yeonjun lifted beomgyu’s head up and slid the pillow underneath for support.  
grabbing another pillow for himself and laying back, yeonjun curled up next to beomgyu. he nuzzled closer towards yeonjun, desperate for the warmth that always seemed to be radiating off of the fire wizard. he circled his arms around the cold boy and brought him closer, closing his eyes and envisioning his warmth seeping through his clothes and directly into the slumbering boy, warming him from within. 

yeonjun had been right. beomgyu did, indeed, fit perfectly in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you once again for reading this and for giving me your support! let me know if you cried! 
> 
> also! come and chat with me on twt! im beomherondale


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this chapter while listening to blessed with a curse by bring me the horizon, waiting room by phoebe bridgers, and illicit affairs by taylor swift. i'm super sorry in advance. a slight trigger warning because it's just really sad so read with caution! i hope you enjoy!   
> also!! i didn't proofread anything because the chapter made me really sad and it's also really long and i worked on it for 6 hours lmao. so if you see any grammar mistakes, no you didn't :)

beomgyu had fallen asleep to the feeling of yeonjun’s fingers lingering in his hair. he wasn’t exactly sure why the feeling of the fire wizards warm fingers against his own chilled palm felt like home should feel. his actual home with his parents seemed so far away as beomgyu dreamed of warmth and the feeling of secret messages traced on palms.

***

falling asleep had been easy, simple almost; but awakening felt like a rush of cool water down beomgyu’s spine. he awoke with a start, lifting his head where it lay on yeonjun’s chest. he felt heat spread across his cheeks as he noticed the position they were in: legs tangled like roots, 

yeonjun’s arms acting like the branches that kept beomgyu pressed against his warm body. and for the first time in what felt like eons, beomgyu was warm. so warm that he could feel it deep within his core. he eyes focused on the slumbering boy beneath and suddenly his chest exploded with what felt like moths dancing around and tearing at his insides. he wanted to reach into his rib cage and yank out every single moth and crush it in his hands. never had he experienced this feeling before he met yeonjun. and he absolutely hated the effect yeonjun had on him. 

yeonjun rustled in his sleep, his arms reflexively pulling beomgyu back down which made his head bump against yeonjun’s chest. he tilted his chin up to see if the impact had been enough to wake yeonjun, but it hadn’t. beomgyu let out a breath and tugged on the sleeves of his jacket. the heat pulsing through yeonjun was making beomgyu sweat and beomgyu despised it. they really needed to get up. as much as beomgyu wanted to forget about the quest they were on, his parents were still depending on him accomplishing it. he really didn’t want to ponder the repercussions that would follow if he came back empty handed. 

beomgyu tapped yeonjun’s chest. nothing. biting the inside of his cheek, beomgyu reached to pinch yeonjun’s arm, gripping the skin hard between his fingers. yeonjun jerked awake and all but threw beomgyu off of him. he exclaimed groggily, “what the hell was that for?”

beomgyu slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off. “we really should get going. i’m feeling better now. all warm and rested up.”

yeonjun casted his eyes downward--beomgyu noticed it was an attempt to hide his growing blush--before he got up as well. “are you sure? i don’t wanna have to drag your ass off the battlefield because you decided to rush.”

beomgyu nodded, grabbing yeonjun’s hand and hauled him out of the sketchy looking house. once back on the sidewalk, they crept silently through the shadows. they really couldn’t afford any more battles. they needed to save up their strength for what lay waiting for them. 

***

several hours had passed and they had managed to only get into a handful of battles, all having gone relatively smooth. beomgyu tried not to cast any spells he knew could possibly wound him. yeonjun appeared to also be playing it safe. maybe he could tell that whatever they were going to be fighting soon was going to require some risky spellcasting. beomgyu was relieved he didn’t have to say it aloud, yeonjun just knew by analyzing his battle strategy. he really shouldn’t have expected anything less from choi yeonjun. 

they were climbing up the levitating stairwells that littered the dungeon, pausing ever so often when yeonjun found a reagent that he “desperately needed for his crafts”. since their conversation--and the actions that preceded it--yeonjun’s bitching had almost been nonexistent; it only happened when beomgyu poked fun at yeonjun going to extreme lengths for a slab of mist wood or scrap metal. beomgyu could feel the dread looming over him. he felt the anxiety tightening its grip on his throat. what if yeonjun actually made it out of here alive? what if he, himself, somehow managed to get out alive? he had spent so much time coming to terms with the fact that he was going to die in here. he had even convinced himself that his parents purposely sent him on a quest that would get him killed so they wouldn’t have to pretend to be his parents anymore. that idea never really bothered him either. he knew it should have, but here he was, more concerned that yeonjun surviving meant that he knew too much about him. yeonjun surviving meant that the feeling festering inside of beomgyu would live on unless either of them died. it truly was so unfair of yeonjun to make beomgyu feel like this. never in his life had he wished someone else’s demise only because they were making him   
feel things he was too scared to say. sure, he had casted trap spells on a few classmates just for annoying him, but never this.

they had finally gotten to the door where the map had stated would be their final destination. beomgyu looked at yeonjun and really soaked it all in. he wondered if yeonjun was scared, if he knew the fate that awaited both of them beyond this door. he pondered if yeonjun regretted coming with, not that he had much of a choice in the matter. he soaked the boy in, engraving everything into his brain: the tousled sapphire hair, the full pink lips always turned down into a slight pout, and the soft embers that burned within those brown eyes. he wanted to remember the way yeonjun’s arms felt around him and how it was the first time in his entire life he felt safe in someone’s embrace. he yearned to remember the feel of yeonjun’s hands in his hair and the patterns that were traced gracefully over his palm as if yeonjun had been telling himself only in a language beomgyu didn’t quite understand. he longed to speak it though. beomgyu allowed himself to feel content in knowing that everything he felt world die with yeonjun. maybe that was the only reason he was even allowing himself to look at the fire wizard like this. 

he then realized that yeonjun’s eyes had been drilling holes into him and he returned the eye contact. yeonjun cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair--beomgyu felt himself wish it was his hair that those fingers had carded through, “you good to go?” 

beomgyu nodded, calling forth his staff as yeonjun did the same. they both gripped either of the doorknobs and pushed open quietly. a bolt of lightning sprung out suddenly and beomgyu only had enough time to witness that the spell was aimed directly at him before yeonjun leaped towards him and pressed him against the door as the spell sliced passed them. beomgyu looked up at yeonjun as his arms, once again, created a safe haven for beomgyu. he reached up and tugged on yeonjun’s sleeve, signalling that he was fine. yeonjun quickly pulled away, continuing to stare at him as beomgyu’s eyes took in the room before him. there in the middle of the room stood a little girl, who could have only been around seven or eight years old. she wore a powdered pink dress and a matching bow in her pale blonde hair. when she opened her eyes, black orbs stared back at them. suddenly, they were hyper aware that this was their foe. this was who they would be fighting. but what had made this little girl so malicious? beomgyu glanced at yeonjun and instantly knew they were thinking the same exact thing: the question was less “who is she” and more “what is she”. 

beomgyu took a step forward, drawing forth a manifestation of a ghoul before the little girl was gone before their eyes. chills ran down his spine as he and yeonjun whipped around in every which direction. suddenly, he felt a whisper that made the hairs on his arms stand on edge. the little girl, still nowhere to be found, continued whispering into his ear, “wouldn’t it be a shame if he found out who sent you on this quest? why you’re here? who you’re doing this all for? hm? or should i tell him about what happens if he survives? your plans of killing him.” beomgyu gripped his ears, desperately trying to muffle the voice but it rang out with even more clarity, “or should i tell him about the disgusting infatuation you’ve somehow developed for him. how could anyone love someone like you. if i’m the monster, what does that make you? you’re no better than me. at least i can say i’m evil while you walk around that revolting school of yours as if you haven’t played a hand into the disturbing violations of your parents. you’re unworthy of love and that’s why you want yeonjun to die so badly--that or you want it to be you who dies painfully. say it with me. say, ‘i am unworthy of love and i deserve to die.’” 

beomgyu violently shook his head, tremors encapsulating his whole body as he crouched down. yeonjun was there in an instant, his warm hands gripping his shoulders. he could hear his voice very faintly but the growl of the girl that came next was louder. she screeched into his ears, “say it with me, choi beomgyu! say ‘i am unworthy of love and i deserve to die!” say it. say it. say it. say it. say it. come on, you know it’s true! say it and i’ll put you out of your misery. say it and yeonjun walks away alive.” 

beomgyu heard a voice cut through the monster’s, “beomgyu, please, listen to me. this demon… it plays on your fears! it worms its way inside of your mind and uses your greatest fears against you! whatever its saying is a lie! it’s a fabrication of what you fear! come on, snap out of it!”

beomgyu felt the words leave his mouth ever so quietly. 

yeonjun’s eyes widened and he tilted beomgyu’s face up towards him so he could look him in the eyes, “what did you say?”

beomgyu bit his lip, trying to pull away but yeonjun kept his face framed with his hands, “what did you say?” he said more sternly. 

beomgyu felt the tears well up in his eyes. they made yeonjun a blurred vision of blue. “i’m unworthy of love and deserve to die.”

as soon as the words spilled from his lips, yeonjun was pulling him into his warm embrace. he felt yeonjun’s soft voice vibrate through him, “is that your fear? beomgyu…”

yeonjun was cut off by beomgyu letting out an audible gasp. beomgyu noticed the way yeonjun turned around, keeping his body close to shield beomgyu from the threat. the heat that had enveloped beomgyu was now gone and had been replaced with a feeling of foreboding. 

the two beings standing before them looked remarkably familiar. beomgyu spoke first, “mother? father?”

beomgyu’s parents spoke simultaneously together, filling the room with eerie apprehension, “your fears were right all along, beomgyu. this quest we set you on was as a means of getting rid of you. we never loved you, never even looked at you like you were our own flesh and blood. you were always merely a toy for us, a pawn for us to use at our will. how foolish of you to expect anything more from us.” 

beomgyu shook his head, covering his ears. “no. no, please, i just need more time! i can do it! i can be a son you can be proud of!” beomgyu was screaming at that point, “let me show you! please!” beomgyu felt yeonjun’s eyes on him but he couldn’t think about that right now. 

yeonjun’s clear-cut voice pierced through beomgyu’s pleas, “he can’t see you, but i can. i know who you are. i know what you do to people, the insanity you inflict. lyssa. the harbinger of insanity and madness. let him go.” yeonjun then twirled his scepter gracefully and spouted the words for the spell known as “rain of fire”. a loud eruption sounded through the chambers that snapped beomgyu out of his trance. he touched his cheeks, feeling a cool wetness running down towards his chin. he had been crying. 

yeonjun had already been dragging him off the of marble floors and to the nearest wall, taking shelter near a discarded bookshelf. beomgyu shook his head, trying to rid himself of the effects of the demon. yeonjun was already tilting beomgyu’s head up so he could look at him, “you understand that that thing out there is not your parents, correct? it’s a serpent that slithers into your brain and plays off of your greatest fears, okay?” as yeonjun was explaining, beomgyu watched as blazing balls of fire flew from the ceiling, raining down on the demon below. beomgyu could hear screams echoing off of the walls as yeonjun’s spell took its’ course. 

beomgyu nodded, reaching out to grip at yeonjun’s jacket and urging the tremors in his hands to cease. he felt sick to his stomach, his body so full of nineteen years of suppressed emotions. “what… what do we do?” he asked.

yeonjun smiled softly, “we do what we’ve been doing this entire time. we fight.” beomgyu nodded and allowed yeonjun to pull him up. he gripped his staff, feeling the cool obsidian underneath his fingers and allowed it to give him strength. this was it. the time he had spent his whole life preparing for. coming out from behind the bookshelf, beomgyu had begun to chant the words to the most powerful spell he had within his deck, one he knew would surely kill him from its sheer strength. he could feel the hunger building inside of him. hungry for the blood of this demon. greedy to paint the walls red with its blood. he watched as the veins beneath his skin began to turn prominently black, running all the way up his arms and shoulders. he could feel yeonjun’s eyes on him, could feel his concern drilling a hole into him. he ignored it though. he wanted this. he wanted it more than anything--well, besides to be in a certain fire wizard’s arms. his vision was beginning to fade in and out but he forced himself to continue with the   
incantation. even if he was unworthy of love. even if he deserved to die. he was going to make sure yeonjun made it out alive. screw yeonjun having to be the one to die. this was beomgyu’s mess. 

he could hear yeonjun’s faint shouts as he pleaded beomgyu to not cast the spell, as if yeonjun already knew exactly what beomgyu’s plans were. beomgyu shook his head and gripped his staff with both hands as he tried to tear the spell out from within him. the atoms around him had begun to pulse as the aura surrounding him began to come alive with the spell. swirls of blacks and purples whirled around him as he screamed the final words and brought his staff down with such ferocity that the windows embroidering the perimeter of the chambers all shattered and fell down on them. beomgyu didn’t care though. he only watched as his spell manifested: tombstones protruding from the ground as an apparition in a black cloak took form. it faced the demon head on and reached out its bony hand, beckoning the life force to drain out of the demon. the demon let out blood curdling scream after another as it was forced to the ground, the low moans of the wraith continuing to absorb its energy. beomgyu felt liquid begin to pool out of his nose and eyes and he quickly reached up to smear it away only to see his fingers caked in a red substance. beomgyu’s focus snapped just then as panic seized his limbs, causing him to drop his staff. 

the spell shattered before it finished, causing beomgyu to get blown back into the wall from the fallout. he felt his ribs crack as his helpless body fell to the floor. he had enough energy to flip himself over, letting out the tiniest of whimpers. he looked to where he expected the demon’s lifeless body to lay and was incredibly disappointed when it was arising from where it had laid writhing. not only had beomgyu failed his quest and gotten himself all but killed, but now yeonjun’s blood was also on his hands. he could only watch as yeonjun firmly gripped his scepter and began to twirl it around his head, manifesting a powerful aura of reds and golds. particles in the air had started to whirl around yeonjun as he spoke out his spell calmly. yeonjun finished his spell and receded quickly, attempting to give the spell enough room to manifest itself. the temperature in the room began to escalate quickly as loud louds echoed off the walls. falling from the ceiling came a huge helephant, its hands ablaze with fire. the room lit up in an inferno of white light. beomgyu couldn’t see anything but he could hear what sounded like the snapping of bones and the screams of the demon. as quickly as the light came, it slowly diminished and with it, it took the helephant. 

beomgyu watched as yeonjun had to lean on his scepter for support. he wanted to scream at his body to move so he could help the boy but all it could muster up the energy to do was raise his hand ever so slightly. yeonjun noticed and it snapped him out of his haze as he took off towards beomgyu. he fell to his knees, scooping beomgyu up and holding him tightly in his arms. yeonjun spoke through gritted teeth, “i told you not to cast that stupid spell. we could have done it together. i told you…” he stopped when his voice cracked. 

beomgyu could only stare up at the boy, enamoured. he spoke softly, his body pleading with him to let go, “i’m glad the last thing i get to see is you.”

yeonjun’s widened eyes filled with tears that spilled over like sweet honey out of a jar. he leaned down and pressed his forehead against beomgyu’s, “please, don’t go. you can’t leave yet,” yeonjun begged, “stay. stay with me.”

beomgyu shook his head but choked as blood came pooling up his throat. he hacked it up, feeling the drip of blood down his chin. yeonjun brushed his hair back off his sweaty forehead, pleading once more, “please. you don’t have to go.”

beomgyu could only let out a whisper wet with blood, “i’m… so glad… you’re… the last one… i get to see… i wouldn’t have had it… any other way…” 

yeonjun let out a sob and beomgyu noticed his tear stained cheeks. he wished he could wipe them away but his body was at a point where he couldn’t even feel pain anymore. he just felt full of yeonjun: the warmth beomgyu had become accustomed to, the smell of burning cedar, the emotions vibrating inside of him. he wanted to close his eyes and drift off with the feeling of being in yeonjun’s arms the last thing he felt. 

he saw a flash of green light poof into the room but at that point, beomgyu’s vision was already beginning to fade as well as his hearing. he recognized a boy he had seen frequently at ravenwood. a life wizard, he presumed. as well as another boy that beomgyu did not know. not that it mattered. 

beomgyu allowed death to envelope him, taking him far far away with the scent of yeonjun still fresh in his nose. the image of blue hair still fresh in his mind.  
finally, he thought.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am truly so sorry for the wait! i was moving into my dorm and getting everything ready for college! i kept telling myself i would get back to it and then it slipped my mind every single day until i forced myself to sit down and write this chapter!   
> this chapter is in taehyun's perspective--which is completely out of the blue considering it's been yeonjun and beomgyu up until now--but i needed to convey just how vital taehyun is to beomgyu's story and vice versa. i needed to show you taehyun and beomgyu's relationship through taehyun's eyes so please bear with me! i know chapter 6 was a huge cliffhanger and still is but this chapter needed to happen no sooner and no later. i really really love taehyun and his character type! he's beautiful and lovely and just so very taehyun.   
> i hope you enjoy!

kang taehyun had come out of the womb knowing choi beomgyu. their lives were so intricately entangled that he couldn’t even begin to imagine a world where beomgyu wasn’t around. taehyun’s parents had been in the same wicked association as beomgyu’s parents, the only difference being once taehyun’s parents knew they had a child on the way they immediately pulled out while beomgyu’s parents continued to lead the destruction from the frontlines even with a child on the way. taehyun’s parents never talked much about that time of their lives, and because he grew up with beomgyu, he was grateful. he had to watch as beomgyu’s parents traumatized the living shit out of the defenseless boy from the very moment he was born. therefore, taehyun knew how hard it was for the boy and never complained when he had to tear beomgyu off of a kid who decided to say some twisted bullshit about his parents. he never even protested when beomgyu called him at 3am because he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew with a quest his parents had given him, never even let out a single groan while he had gotten himself out of bed to go dig beomgyu out of the mess he had created. it may all sound like these were all one time deals but in reality, they happened at least three times a week. 

taehyun knew the twisted relationship beomgyu had with himself and those around and that’s why he would never call beomgyu his best friend to his face. he knew the boy like the back of his hand and knew exactly what kind of reaction that would spark. as much as beomgyu relied on taehyun, taehyun relied on beomgyu’s presence and his companionship. he was the only thing truly sound in his life even if beomgyu was the most erratic and impulsive person he had ever known in his entire life. taehyun loved the self destructive boy. he loved him to the point where he almost became a death wizard just so they could be on the path together--beomgyu had been incredibly upset when taehyun had brought it up which quickly ended the discussion. until beomgyu can understand just how important his life is, taehyun will continue to put his life on the line to ensure that the time will come. 

and that’s how taehyun knew deep down in my stomach that something was wrong with beomgyu. headmaster ambrose kept beomgyu on the tightest leash and with beomgyu having missed the last two days of school, it was beginning to raise suspicion from all the professions. taehyun could hear rumors floating up and down ravenwood. maybe beomgyu: the psycho finally snapped. maybe he went rogue like his parents. he should have never been allowed to attend this school. the kid is evil just like his parents. it made taehyun sick to his stomach. taehyun was aware of how much beomgyu dreaded those lessons and being at ravenwood; but beomgyu wouldn’t go as far as to skip them, knowing what the consequences were.

he had checked all of beomgyu’s usual hiding spots--the library, nightshade, golem’s court, and the like--with each hidden haven coming up empty filling taehyun with more and more concern. to anyone else it appeared so on brand for beomgyu, but taehyun knew this was the complete opposite. beomgyu was rash and impulsive and reckless. if this was another suicide quest given to him by his parents, beomgyu would have been by now or he would have contacted taehyun if he needed help. 

that’s where taehyun found himself now. he had made his way into beomgyu’s dorm to make sure the death wizard wasn’t exhausted or bleeding out from the quest. that’s when he found it. on beomgyu’s desk sat a paper that appeared to be hastily scribbled on. taehyun picked the note up and skimmed it briefly. he felt tears prickle at the corners of his eyes as he read through carelessly written instructions for getting into dragonspyre and opening the crown of fire without admittance into it. in that moment, taehyun wanted to murder beomgyu’s parents for what they had forced their son to embark on. he wanted to hit and slap and kick beomgyu for risking his life for parents who were so obviously manipulating him and using him. 

taehyun had learned about the dungeon beomgyu was sent to. every wizard in the spiral has learned about the dragonspyre shape-shifter demon that dwelled within the crown of fire. no student was ever allowed to take on the quest because even elite wizards with eons of experience had lost their lives to the monster. 

taehyun’s hands shook violently as a memory played out in front of his eyes. he remembers studying in the library with beomgyu, helping the boy with his potions class. he remembers the faint smell of musty books that was overpowered by beomgyu’s earthy scent. he recalled the way beomgyu’s head was bent down, working diligently. the boy’s hair always looked so soft. it made taehyun’s heart twist in his chest. beomgyu had looked up from his work at taehyun and said something that, if taehyun knew then what he knows now, should have set taehyun on edge. the words “why the hell am i doing this when it won’t even matter in a few days” ghosted around taehyun now. he hadn’t taken it seriously because he just assumed it was beomgyu being beomgyu. but standing there in an empty room not knowing if his best friend was dead or alive and it was because taehyun had become so complacent in beomgyu’s self destruction. he felt the tears overflow from his eyes as he fell to his knees, clutching the remnants of the nose, of beomgyu’s handwriting. the memory of the library seemed so far away now and taehyun desperately wanted to reach out and grab it.

***

an hour had passed until taehyun had deemed himself stable enough to do something about the newly arisen circumstances. he situated himself at beomgyu’s desk, allowing the familiar smell of his friend to circle around him and comfort him, and began writing out a plan. beomgyu was powerful enough to not get himself killed. if anything, he was mortally wounded which really wasn’t any better but taehyun was trying to keep his mind from pondering on that thought for too long. taehyun needed to stay here and sort things out with headmaster ambrose and he couldn’t very well drag a dying beomgyu through dragonspyre. he was a balance wizard with a secondary in death wizardry, meaning he had no access to any healing spells that would get beomgyu on his feet. the only life wizard he was remotely familiar with was choi soobin and he was pretty sure being “remotely familiar” with someone wasn’t grounds for asking them to risk their life for someone they were never fond of in the first place. but at this point, taehyun was all out of options. so somehow he needed to convince soobin to teleport into the crown of fire, heal beomgyu, and get him out of there as quietly as possible. he couldn’t be sure if beomgyu had defeated the demon and he didn’t want to take any chances. 

when taehyun finally found soobin, the boy was dragging around another life wizard who appeared to be dazed and confused. taehyun waved to both of them as he approached them, “soobin! could i ask a huge favor-”

“ah, taehyun. this is huenginkai. he’s a new life wizard who plans on attending ravenwood. i’m helping him get familiar with wizard city and just showing him around. hueningkai, this is taehyun, a student of the balance school. he’s friends with the death wizard i was telling you about,” soobin interjected, having not heard a single thing taehyun had said. taehyun was beginning to regret constructing a plan that relied on soobin’s assistance.

the new life student radiated warmth as he started to talk but taehyun made quick to cut him off,” ah, right, about that very specific death wizard. i really need your help with something,” taehyun shot an apologetic look to hueningkai before looking back towards soobin. 

soobin shook his head, “absolutely not. if he’s in trouble he probably deserves it.” taehyun clenched his fist and bit his tongue. even if soobin was being an actual ass right now, he was still the foundation of this rescue quest. taehyun needed his help.

soobin had turned on his heel and had begun to walk away when taehyun scrambled after him, putting his hands out to stop him from pushing past him, “soobin, please. i wouldn’t have come to you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. i think beomgyu’s really, really hurt. just hear me out please.” 

soobin’s eyes drilled holes into taehyun. soobin was such an unfamiliar presence which made it significantly more difficult to read him. with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes, soobin exhaled out an “explain.” and taehyun set off on a very jumbled explanation of where beomgyu was and a vague answer as to why he was there. he explained what soobin had to do and tried desperately to gauge his response by his facial expressions, but soobin was a brick wall. 

after taehyun’s long, drawn out explanation and a minute or so of pure begging, soobin was telling him to shut the hell up and that he’d do it, but hueningkai would have to come along since soobin refused to go into the crown of fire alone. taehyun was pretty sure hueningkai nearly soiled his pants.

taehyun led them to a secluded area within ravenwood and allowed the two life wizards to cast some protection enhancements and strength charms on each other in preparation for what was to come.  
“if he’s dead, do you want me to bring back the body?” soobin asked, the tiniest bit of pity seeping into his voice. 

there it was. the thought that taehyun had refused to contemplate. beomgyu being dead. the stiffness of the boy’s limps. the pink drained completely from his pink cheeks and pink lips. the earthy smell taehyun had long associated with beomgyu not replaced with the scent of rotting flesh and death. “he’s not dead. i would know if he was. i just need you to heal him enough to get him on his feet so you can teleport him back. i don’t know if he killed the demon or not so you need to be quick.”

soobin nodded, “yeah, that’s why kai is coming with. if the demon is still alive, i’ll hold it off and kai can heal beomgyu. we’ll bring him back.” soobin hesitantly reached out and patted taehyun’s shoulder in an attempt to console him.   
taehyun smiled slightly and nodded, “be careful.”

soobin nodded and summoned his staff into his hand. using his empty hand, he gripped ahold of hueningkai’s hand and chanted the teleportation incantation. one second, the two life wizards were before him and the next they were gone in a breeze of cherry blossoms and leaves. taehyun looked up at the blue sky and prayed to whoever was listening that this gut feeling he had about beomgyu being alive wasn’t just his own desires clouding reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been contemplating doing a spin off, in which i'll explain later since that would involve giving a lot away about what i have in store for soobin, taehyun, and kai! it's still up in the air considering i need to finish this before i even go any deeper into this hypothetical spin off!  
> anyways, i hope you all enjoyed chapter 7 and i hope you all welcomed taehyun into your hearts! thank you for your patience and support! i'll make sure to get chapter 8 out quickly to make up for how long chapter 7 took me!
> 
> if you wanna chat with me and yell at me to update my twitter is beomherondale!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! the long awaited resolution of the cliffhanger from chapter 6! i hope you all enjoy it! thank you so so much for being patient and sticking with me! it's kind of turned into "updating whenever i can" instead of daily updates so i'm sorry about that. but i hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

yeonjun’s ears rang from the impact of the last spell and his eyes were trapped in a blur of tears and pure white light; but all he could do was cling to the broken boy that lay crumbled on his lap. the temperature in the room had risen significantly from the powerful spell yeonjun had casted. he knew he could have gotten severely hurt if he hadn’t spent a month mastering the incantation. but even then, there was no guarantee. 

beomgyu’s last words bounced around yeonjun’s head. they barely knew each other and yeonjun had been less than good company to beomgyu; yet, beomgyu had expressed gratitude to yeonjun instead of regret. beomgyu had whispered that he was glad   
yeonjun was the last person he saw before beomgyu’s eyes had fluttered shut and his chest rattled before ominously stilling. yeonjun wanted to stop crying. 

yeonjun hated this. he hated the universe for giving him something he had been craving for as long as he could remember and than tearing it from him with no explanation. he wanted to desperately hate beomgyu but all his mind could think of was the stolen glances that yeonjun would never have the opportunity to return. the tousled strands of dark hair that yeonjun was never going to be able to push back. the hands that yeonjun was never going to be able to warm with his own. yeonjun would never get to know the stupid, useless facts of beomgyu, like his favorite color, his favorite season, his favorite food. he wouldn’t ever get to brush forbidden tears away and wrap his arms around beomgyu’s thin frame. he wanted to pull beomgyu up and get them both out of   
here before the chaos around them dissipated. in case that demon was still alive somewhere. but when every lost opportunity played like a movie in front of him. 

yeonjun wanted to protect them like he knew beomgyu would. and all he could do was sit there uselessly and feel every single insult his parents had ever thrown at him bubble up in his blood. it felt like his veins were cut open and the vile words flowed freely out of him when he had spent years burying them deep-deep. he felt his shoulders hunch over as sobs cracked his ribcage in two. tears that had been quelling up for years leaked down his cheeks and dripped off his chin. he felt a name forming on the tip of his tongue. he wanted to hold it deep inside of him. he wanted to take the name and wrap it in his arms and grace his lips along the name’s chilled skin. he cried out for beomgyu, the boy who had killed himself in order to try and give yeonjun a fighting chance. the boy who had risked everything for parents who were never going to love him in the way that he deserved to be loved. 

yeonjun felt a firm hand grip his shoulder but he couldn’t tear his eyes off of beomgyu. blood had begun to dribble out of the corner of his mouth as well as out of his nose. the soft locks were now matted in sweat. the side of the boy’s head was dyed a crimson red and moist. it must have been the impact of being flung against a wall. the hand tugged on his jacket desperately. if the demon had survived and was back to finish them off, so be it. at least yeonjun had found someone who he would gladly die beside. 

the ringing in his ears had begun to cease and, for the first time, yeonjun could hear his name being screamed desperately by not just one voice but two. he peered up at the unfamiliar brunette boy who had been yanking on his arm for the past minutes. then, looking past the boy, his eyes locked on another figure who was in the middle of casting a spell on an entity that was slithering and convulsing around the marble flooring. soobin, yeonjun thought graciously as a sense of relief flooded through him. 

“kai, you have to heal them right fucking now! I can’t do this much longer!” soobin’s voice sounded strained and distant. 

“he won’t move! soobin, what do i do?” kai, the boy, pleaded. he racked his brain for some sense of who this kai was but all he could focus on the blood that was beginning to flow from the wound on beomgyu’s head. he felt the breath catch in his lungs. his chest howled for air. “i think he’s hyperventilating!” 

“i’m a tad busy, hueningkai! deal with it, please!” yeonjun looked up in time to see soobin dodge an attack by dropping to the ground and quickly rolling to the side. soobin sprung to his feet and was already casting another attack on the shape-shifter. 

yeonjun’s eyes trailed back to the befuddled boy. hueningkai. this was the new student soobin had been in charge of. how had they found him and beomgyu? yeonjun forced his eyes to focus on what hueningkai was saying, “-you don’t know me but taehyun sent us to find beomgyu. he didn’t tell us you were here too, but i’m going to heal beomgyu now.”

yeonjun shook his head, instinctively tightening his arms around beomgyu. “no, i won’t leave him! no! don’t touch us!” 

“yeonjun, please, if we want to get him out of here you need to let me heal him.” 

“he… he’s dea-”

“he’s not! i promise. look,” hueningkai timidly gripped yeonjun’s cheeks and angled his head down to look at beomgyu’s chest--which was slowly lifting up and down with each breath, “he’s been breathing this entire time! he’s still alive we just need to act now, okay?” 

yeonjun felt warmth invade his being with each honey-slick word that dripped from the boy’s mouth. he was definitely a life wizard from the aura he was radiating. he smelled of dew and sunshine. yeonjun felt himself nod slowly even though he didn’t think he had the strength to set beomgyu down. “can… can he stay…” yeonjun’s voice trailed off before he could even finish his sentence. he felt so incompetent that it made him want to vomit. 

somehow, hueningkai had picked up on what yeonjun had been trying to say and was already nodding his head. “i won’t move him, i promise. just keep a good hold on him when he wakes up. he’s going to be really scared,” hueningkai paused, closing his eyes and extending his hands over beomgyu’s body, “there’s a lot of death inside of him right now but he’s fighting it so hard. i can feel it. we have to work fast, so remember to keep him still once he comes to. he won’t be strong enough.” yeonjun nodded quickly and braced himself by squeezing beomgyu tight. he allowed the slow inhales and exhales coming from the unconscious boy to reassure him that this wasn’t the end. 

hueningkai took a deep breath and yeonjun watched as the boy settled into the familiarity of healing. he began to move his hands majestically above beomgyu as the air around them began to vibrate. for the first time, yeonjun could feel heat beneath beomgyu’s skin. the warmth began to spread as the spell sank deeper into the injured boy. the color began to seep back into beomgyu’s face: his eyelids were no longer a stark blue and his lips had taken on their pretty pink hue. the wound that had been flowing blood profusely was now just a clump of tangled hair. yeonjun looked in time to see beomgyu’s eyes flutter open as two glazed over chocolate brown eyes stared up at him. 

those same eyes snapped into focus and beomgyu began to try and fight his way out of yeonjun’s arms. yeonjun squeezed him tighter, resting their foreheads together as he spoke calmly and quietly, “shh. you’re safe. i got you.” yeonjun’s voice broke but he just kept repeating it, treating it like a mantra and hoping that the words broke through the terror ever present in beomgyu’s eyes.

beomgyu reached up meekly and gripped yeonjun’s shoulder, squeezing him tightly. his voice sounded crackly as he spoke in a hoarse voice, “please tell me you’re real.”

yeonjun nodded quickly, tears spilling over as he let out a sob, “yes yes yes. this is real. i’m real. you’re safe.” 

beomgyu smiled weakly before grabbing yeonjun by the collar and tugging him down towards him. suddenly, those pretty pink lips were brushing his and yeonjun’s mind went blank. he couldn’t think. couldn’t move. couldn’t breathe. he felt beomgyu’s fingers poke out against his neck before he felt them pinch his skin. pulling back, beomgyu stared up at him and smiled slightly. “thank you,” beomgyu whispered out, “help me up?”

yeonjun nodded quickly, still dazed from the world’s softest kiss he had received. hueningkai rushed to his side as they stabilized beomgyu enough to get him to his feet. yeonjun glanced at soobin, who was currently casting wards so they’d have enough coverage to get out. “soobin! let’s go!” yeonjun yelled for him, using his other hand to motion for him to come. 

soobin pulled away from the battle and sprinted towards them, twirling his staff over his head as he chanted the familiar teleportation spell that would send them all home. yeonjun reached out and grabbed soobin’s hand as the incantation took form. they were all enveloped in a green mist that smelled of freshly cut grass and petrichor. 

***

coming out of the portal, yeonjun gripped beomgyu tighter, making sure the boy was steady. yeonjun looked to soobin, who was already staring at him. suddenly, a boy with red hair was pulling beomgyu out of his arms. he could only watch helplessly as this strange boy cupped beomgyu’s cheeks like a mother would do to a son and pepper him with questions. soobin came up next to him and watched beomgyu and the boy, “is there a reason behind why you were in dragonspyre with choi beomgyu? kang taehyun asked for hueningkai and i to bring beomgyu back, and only beomgyu. he never mentioned you which means that it was a secret or no one even knew you were there.” 

yeonjun crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing at the red head boy who was checking beomgyu for any other injuries like hueningkai might have missed--as if a life wizard would fuck up a healing spell. “i ran into him in nightshade. he didn’t have a school permitted quest scroll so i wanted to make sure he wasn’t going off on some bender quest that would get him killed. in which, he was on a suicide mission and i got roped in with him. i just wanted to make sure he was okay.” 

“you do realize who that is though, right? choi beomgyu? ring a bell?”

“yeah, i guess that’s why i wanted to make sure he was okay.”

“i would have reported him straight to headmaster ambrose.”

yeonjun shrugged, “he’s not his parents, soobin. you can’t treat him like he’s a bad guy when he hasn’t done anything to show that he has bad intentions.”

“do you hear yourself right now?” soobin paused and ran a hand through his hair, “you were put in danger, yeonjun. you were going to die if taehyun hadn’t told us where beomgyu was.”

“i get you were worried but you don’t need to take it out on him. if i wouldn’t have been there he would have surely been dead.”

soobin let out a sigh and tugged on the strands of his own hair. yeonjun noticed he did that quite often when he was struggling to process things, as if pulling on his hair would give his mind space for comprehension. “yeonjun, you really scared me. terrified me, actually. when i got there and i saw you sitting there, i couldn’t even…” he shook his head, “you were screaming, yeonjun. screeching for beomgyu to wake up. i’ve never seen you like that. ever. it was just… i don’t know. you didn’t look or sound like yourself.” 

yeonjun watched as hueningkai shyly made his way over to where taehyun and beomgyu stood, taehyun still talking quietly with beomgyu. yeonjun skeptically watched as beomgyu turned his attention to the life wizard and taehyun remained dialed in on beomgyu. yeonjun knew what the red head was doing and he didn’t even know him. taehyun was hyper fixating on beomgyu’s every mannerism, scoping out the damage that had been done that a healing spell can’t heal. it was exactly what yeonjun was doing except yeonjun could tell that there was something more going on between beomgyu and taehyun just by the way that they appear to be in their own little worlds even with hueningkai standing not five feet away from them. they had chemistry. years of it from what yeonjun could tell. 

yeonjun felt soobin tug on his jacket and he looked towards the boy. yeonjun observed as soobin tried to hold eye contact but quickly broke it to glance at kai and then the ground. “please take care of yourself. you’re always trying to look out for others and it almost got you killed today.”

yeonjun sighed and offered the boy a reassuring smile, “i really am so sorry for worrying you. what you and hueningkai did today was heroic. you two put yourselves blindly in danger in order to help rescue beomgyu. you did it without asking for anything in return,” yeonjun reached out and patted soobin’s shoulder, “you showed true kindness and selflessness towards someone you don’t trust. i thank you on not only my behalf but also beomgyu’s.”

yeonjun could hear soobin choke on the air in his throat which caused him to double over in a fit of coughs. yeonjun peered down at him with wide eyes of concern, offering a steady hand for soobin to hold onto which was quickly dismissed. soobin gave him a thumbs up as he continued to cough hysterically. taking that as confirmation that him and soobin were okay, yeonjun made his way over to where beomgyu, taehyun, and heuningkai were standing. beomgyu glanced up at him and yeonjun noticed the most wholesome of blushes dusted itself across the boy’s cheeks. taehyun instinctively stepped in front of beomgyu and eyed yeonjun up and down. 

“taehyun, stop. he’s the one that literally made sure neither of us died while we were there,” yeonjun could hear the eye roll in beomgyu’s voice. 

taehyun turned back towards him, his expression blank, “and yet you were the one that still somehow ended up almost dying. crazy, isn’t it?”

beomgyu frowned and looked down at his boots, “you’re right.”

taehyun’s expression softened and he shook his head, “i’m just grateful you’re alright. i already covered for you with headmaster ambrose so you shouldn’t run into any problems.” 

yeonjun witnessed a genuine smile unfold on beomgyu’s face. taehyun saw it as well and returned the smile. without thinking, yeonjun piped up, “we were gone for a few days so maybe we could meet up in the library or our dorms and work on our assignments together or something,” he then added, “only if you want, of course.”

the blush returned to beomgyu’s cheeks and this time it made a home on beomgyu’s nose and the tip of his ears. “oh, um, that’d be nice! how about monday?” two days from now. he felt a knot form at the back of his throat. it wasn’t even a rejection so why was yeonjun’s body acting like it was? beomgyu must have noticed because he quickly added, “i only say monday because i’m probably going to go to the infirmary and then rest. i also have to collect said assignments in order for us to do them together. so, monday would be the best.” 

yeonjun nodded in understanding and smiled, “monday it is.”

beomgyu nodded, giving him a tiny smile before turning away. taehyun grabbed beomgyu’s arm and slung it over his shoulder to give beomgyu a crutch. yeonjun watched as they picked their way through ravenwood. all the while still feeling the press of lips on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're feeling spicy, on my spotify i created playlists for taehyun and soobin! they'll come more into play with the spin off that me and my friend have been working on!   
> my twt is beomherondale if you wanna come yell at me to update!  
> also if you see any grammar or typos, no you didn't :) i'm kinda done proofreading the updates


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow! i am so sorry for the wait! school has just been a lot right now. being a literature major means i'm constantly reading and writing which makes me SO demotivated to work on outside projects. but here it is! chapter 9! i umm have no words to please let me know how you guys feel about it. kiss scenes are so much fun to read but really hard to write. also go stream stray kids album and vote for their comeback! they really deserve it! also also txt comeback soon?!? i'm not ready lmao.

three weeks flashed by beomgyu in the blink of an eye. three yeonjun-filled weeks to be exact. three weeks of yeonjun slowly taking apart every carefully built wall beomgyu had surrounded himself with. three weeks filled to the brim with the softest of touches and the neediest of kisses. hands that pushed and pulled. lips that always asked before doing. fingers that skirted across skin, ingraining every minute detail into their minds. eyes that soaked everything in and left nothing unnoticed.

at first, yeonjun’s constant presence in beomgyu’s life was unwarranted. the first week, beomgyu had been convinced that yeonjun had an angle he was trying to work, some motive behind him constantly showing up at beomgyu’s secret little nook inside the ravenwood library. he’d come with salty snacks; sweet, syrupy drinks, and smiles galore. it was unsettling. beomgyu couldn’t put his finger on exactly why it made him so uncomfortable. maybe it had to do something with the butterflies that nibbled at the inside of his ribs. maybe it was the way his fingers ached to touch something he knew he couldn’t have. but by the eighth and ninth occurrence, beomgyu had begun to find himself expecting it, almost finding comfort in the consistency of seeing a patch of blue hair peek up from down the hall (not that beomgyu was looking for it or anything). and if yeonjun was a minute late, beomgyu would feel heaviness settle over him. he’d shake his head and remind himself of who he was and the disgusting shadow he would always cast on those around him; because of course yeonjun wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore, he nearly got both of them killed. thoughts would pour themselves into beomgyu until that familiar mop of sapphire colored hair would come into view everything would melt away when yeonjun was by his side. at first it would only be the stresses of homework that yeonjun would absolve him of. but then, as they spent more time together, the more yeonjun’s warmth would seep into him, the more beomgyu would allow himself to find comfort in the fire wizard. he’d feel those same strong arms wrap around his waist and it felt like sanctuary. 

the first (second) kiss--the first didn’t count since beomgyu had been an incoherent mess--was now a memory beomgyu drifted off to sleep to, the moment vividly replaying behind his eyelids. they had been working diligently on different assignments, asking questions here and there. this was around the fifteenth consecutive day of them doing homework together and each day brought a thicker haze of something that beomgyu couldn’t put his finger on. all he knew was each hour that went by, yeonjun’s chair would somehow wind up closer to beomgyu’s. it wasn’t long until yeonjun’s thigh was flush besides beomgyu’s, their shoulders brushing, fingers grazing against each others. every time beomgyu would glance at yeonjun, he would catch yeonjun’s head whipping down and the boy would proceed to act like beomgyu didn’t just catch him staring at him. beomgyu wanted to say it was embarrassing but as soon as yeonjun’s eyes lifted up to meet beomgyu’s, beomgyu quickly averted eye contact while a pink blush crept over his cheeks. now, this had happened at least twenty times that day. it had gotten to the point where beomgyu would have rather suffered a painful death via toaster in bathtub then continue to go through this. because every time it happened, something brewed in beomgyu. he wasn’t sure if it was the musk of the books starting to get to him or the flecks of amber in yeonjun’s eyes. he had wanted so badly. he had wanted and yearned, but for what exactly? he hadn’t been sure. but whatever it was had scared him worse than death ever had. 

yeonjun had leaned over to help beomgyu’s with a potion balancing equation when beomgyu had lifted his head enough to where they had been sharing the same breath. beomgyu had felt his heart hammering in his chest and it had felt like there was water filling up his ears. beomgyu had watched as yeonjun had glanced down at his lips and the want for something beomgyu couldn’t put his finger on grown instantly. he wanted so badly. 

***

and that’s where beomgyu found himself on a thursday night: being pressed against the nearest wall by the fire wizard who had been making a home inside beomgyu’s heart. yeonjun’s lips felt like fire on his while beomgyu’s hands took refuge in yeonjun’s hair. they fit together so well, the way beomgyu would ache for more and yeonjun wouldn’t hesitate to deepen the kiss or pull him closer until yeonjun could feel the younger’s heart racing, so warm and alive. right as beomgyu’s chest was beginning to burn from lack of air, he felt yeonjun press him harder against the wall before the blue haired boy pulled away ever so slightly, pressing their foreheads together so their noses brushed against each others. they were both breathing so heavily. beomgyu peered up at yeonjun, taking in the bruised red lips and the flushed cheeks before reaching up to pull yeonjun back down for another kiss. beomgyu relished in the feeling of yeonjun’s hands tightening on beomgyu’s waist. he adored the way yeonjun would reel him back in if beomgyu strayed too far. 

beomgyu felt yeonjun pull away once more, but before beomgyu could complain he felt fingers tip his chin to the side as lips grazed the side of his neck. a gasp escaped his mouth as yeonjun pressed the softest of kisses to the skin, each kiss dipping down lower and lower. beomgyu could only close his eyes as yeonjun slid his loose sweater off the side of one shoulder before pressing firm kisses to his collarbone. beomgyu clenched his hands in the material of yeonjun’s shirt, desperately trying to use it as leverage so he didn’t float off towards the clouds from how sweet yeonjun’s lips were. beomgyu wanted to feel yeonjun’s lips on his again. he wanted to feel the sweet blanket of security envelope him once more. he wanted to bite on yeonjun’s lip and see what kind of noise he would be blessed with. he wanted to pull harder on those blue strands to see if it sparked something deeper in the fire wizard. beomgyu wanted to see if yeonjun was as hungry for him as beomgyu was for yeonjun.. 

they were both so engrossed in each other that they didn’t even notice someone approaching them. it was the awkward cough that rattled through the air that finally made the two spring away from each other, beomgyu instinctively readjusting his shirt while yeonjun quickly tried to fix his hair. beomgyu recognized the wizard: choi soobin. the life wizard that taehyun had asked to bring him--and yeonjun--back from dragonspyre. the wizard that had been particularly snobbish towards him. beomgyu had heard of the rising star in the school of life but he would have never guessed that it would be this guy. soobin stood several inches taller than him and was wearing dark jeans, a stark white shirt, and heavy denim jacket. beomgyu peered up at the boy only to discover he appeared to in a state of unadulterated discomfort. 

yeonjun cleared his throat, “soobin! hey, uh, did you need something?” 

beomgyu watched as soobin’s eyes darted between them, his brain racking for an answer, “no, um,” soobin glanced up at yeonjun before he quickly looked back down, his fingers worrying at a thread on his jacket. beomgyu raised an eyebrow as soobin’s voice cracked slightly, “i just haven’t seen you around campus much. um, hyuka and i were beginning to worry.” 

beomgyu’s eyes could not have rolled any harder. was this dude for real? glancing at yeonjun, he wondered if he saw the same thing as beomgyu. he was curious if yeonjun saw the way soobin was desperately trying to shrink himself down so that yeonjun wouldn’t see him. suddenly, beomgyu was hyperaware of what they must look like to soobin: all messy hair, disheveled clothes, and swollen lips. hueningkai had been spending most of his time with taehyun so either soobin was also spending time with taehyun--which wasn’t likely--or soobin was lying. and something about this dude was making beomgyu’s skin crawl. not because he had interrupted something that beomgyu was desperate to resume. it was something in those eyes. the way they refused to even look in his general direction. they were just trained on yeonjun. it made something boil deep inside of beomgyu. it made his insides itch uncomfortably. and looking at yeonjun told beomgyu that he really had no idea how soobin was looking at him, like yeonjun held soobin’s heart in his hands; like soobin was about to melt right in front of them if yeonjun stared at him any longer. beomgyu couldn’t handle it anymore. turning to yeonjun, he said, “hey, i should probably get back to my dorm. taehyun wanted to study tonight.”

yeonjun broke eye contact with soobin to look at him. beomgyu felt yeonjun’s hand come up to intertwine with his. “don’t go. please, beomgyu.” yeonjun was all but begging him to stay which made the itching feeling intensify. was it because yeonjun didn’t want to be left alone with soobin or did yeonjun actually want to be around him? had he made up this weird idea that yeonjun genuinely enjoyed his company? he needed to leave now. he needed to get out before he said something really stupid. because the words were sitting right there at the tip of his throat, threatening to expunge themselves from beomgyu’s body. if he stayed, beomgyu knew he would turn into a revolting, mushy mess of repressed feelings and a desire for things that he wasn’t allowed to have. he needed taehyun. taehyun was safety and sanctuary. taehyun would know what to do. beomgyu began jostling things into his bag, trying to pretend like his heart wasn’t leaking out onto the floor. he snagged his bag off the table and walked past yeonjun, muttering a “bye” before walking out of the library. 

hot tears spilled down beomgyu’s cheeks as he rushed back to ravenwood. why was he crying? what was there to cry about? what had he hoped for? there was obviously something going on between yeonjun and soobin; and, for whatever reason, yeonjun hadn’t said anything. he had just filled him with all these butterflies before letting beomgyu fall flat on his face. beomgyu pushed open the door to his dorm. taehyun had been hunched over and aggressively taking notes when he looked up to meet beomgyu’s tear-stained face. taehyun instantly dropped his quill and rushed over to him, nearly knocking over his chair. “what happened? what did they do?” 

beomgyu knew what taehyun must be thinking. taehyun never acted afraid of beomgyu’s parents, had always put up an invincible front for beogmyu’s sake. but the fear ran deep in taehyun. it was rooted in his veins just like it was rooted in beomgyu’s genes. but for some reason, this ache that beomgyu felt was somehow worse. the feeling of beomgyu’s heart taking residence where his stomach should be. this only made the tears come faster and beomgyu wanted nothing more than to be dead on the marble flooring inside the crown of fire. “it’s not my parents. it’s… it’s stupid, taehyun. i’m stupid. i thought he… i thought he liked me.”

taehyun’s eyes softened with beomgyu’s words before taehyun pulled beomgyu into his arms. “was it yeonjun?” 

the name caused something to burst within beomgyu’s chest as sobs racked his body. taehyun squeezed him tighter, desperately trying to share the burden of heartbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed it! please come yell at me to update my story! my twitter is beomherondale!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is!! here is the final part! wow! it's been a ride and i am so grateful for everyone who supported me and pushed me to continue writing on this! thank you for being so patient and reminding me to go at my own pace! thank you thank you thank you! i really hope you all enjoyed reading hellfire as much as i enjoyed writing it!

yeonjun stared at the raven locks as they hastily made their way out of the library. his brain was screaming at him to run after him, to pull beomgyu into his arms and kiss the fears away. but the look in soobin’s eyes has him bolted to his spot. his eyes just looked so absent and blank. it sent chills down the back of his spine. 

soobin scoffed and looked away. “please tell me i did not just see you and choi beomgyu kissing. please tell me you aren’t sinking that low. if you pity him, fine. understandable. but you remember who he is right? because i do. i remember him almost getting you killed.”

yeonjun sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “how could i forget? you literally remind me every single chance you get,” he shook his head, stalking forward. he was about to leave the hidden section of the library but instead he paused and glanced at soobin, “don’t act like you know him. he’s good. he’s trying to be good. and it’s people like you that make it incredibly hard to do so.” he pushed past soobin a little too hard before exiting the library. 

if he were being completely honest, he had no idea where to look for beomgyu. he had only ever spent time with him inside the library or they were off doing quests together. the library was there safe place. a place where beomgyu could let his walls down. a place where yeonjun could treat beomgyu the way he deserved without the watchful eyes of taehyun and soobin. what was up with soobin anyways? his relationship with beomgyu was none of the life wizard’s concerns. he was almost positive taehyun wasn’t up beomgyu’s ass about the two of them. so why was soobin so concerned? this was just so unlike the boy. but he didn’t want to think about it right now. all he wanted to do was find beomgyu and hold him. all he wanted to do was smooth the hairs back from his face and tell him every soft and disgustingly mushy feeling he had for him. 

yeonjun’s body began to move before his mind quite registered what was going on. it dawned on him then. taehyun and beomgyu’s dorm room. that was where he probably went. he felt a shiver of fear pass through him at having to face a protective taehyun who was most likely comforting a very confused and hurt beomgyu. but this needed to happen. he needed to tell beomgyu how he felt. 

he rushed through the commons, dipping through the crystal clear pond and pushing past the dazed wizards that were littering the grounds. he passed through the tunnel that lead to ravenwood and glanced around. he legs acted on instinct as soon as his eyes focused on the dormitories. he ascended upon the resident hall, pushing the heavy door open. now came the problem. yeonjun had literally no clue which room belonged to beomgyu. he walked a bit down the hallway and walked up a flight of stairs until he was greeted with the second floor. a graffitied sign on the wall to his left caught his attention. it stated: “beware! psycho bitch’s floor”. something within yeonjun told him that the “psycho bitch” referenced was his beomgyu. he didn’t have time to be angry but he made a mental note to talk to headmaster ambrose about that. he followed the nasty insults painted on the wall until he came upon the center of it all. the door was plastered with grotesque words and phrases directed towards not only beomgyu, but his parents and taehyun as well. he was definitely talking to headmaster. 

yeonjun inhaled deeply. he had no idea what he was going to say to beomgyu now that he was here. it had seemed like such a good idea when he as in the library but now that he was here his mind was completely blank. his heart was racing in his chest and he feared that the boy beyond this door would be able to hear. maybe if beomgyu heard the way he made yeonjun’s heart race he would know how he felt. if only it were that easy. 

yeonjun extended his hand and knocked on the door. he could hear rustling coming from inside the room. the noise grew as the person got closer to the door. before yeonjun could react, the door was swinging open aggressively. before him stood a very upset taehyun. 

taehyun frowned at him before speaking in his usual quiet voice, “what do you want, yeonjun?” 

“i want to see him.,” he said, his voice cracking halfway through.

“you know that’s not an option right now. he’s really upset and he just needs time to cool down,” taehyun paused before adding, “ i asked him if he wanted to study with me since you two have been spending so much time together. he agreed. now, if that’s all you were needing it would be best for you to leave,” he had begun to close the door but yeonjun’s arm shot out, prohibiting the door from shutting entirely. 

“please, there’s been a huge misunderstanding. if i could just talk to him for a minute and get him to understand-”

“you don’t need to get him to do anything. he understands perfectly well how you feel about him and what your relationship is now. i’m going to say it one last night: i think it would be best for you to leave now.”

beomgyu’s voice spoke hoarsely from inside the dorm, “is it him?”

taehyun let out a sigh and let his head hang, “beom, i can handle this. just go sit back down.”

yeonjun seized taehyun’s lack of attention as an opportunity to push open the door and rush inside. in doing so, he ran smack dab into beomgyu, who let out a gasp. his arms instinctively circled around beomgyu’s waist, keeping him steady on his feet so he wouldn’t topple over. 

beomgyu’s eyes drilled holes into him but his hands rested perfectly on yeonjun’s chest, like they were meant to be there. “what are you doing here?”

“i need to talk to you. i- there’s been a huge misunderstanding, beomgyu.”

“you don't owe me an explanation and i don’t want one.”

“please, just let me do this. i need you to know-”

“i don’t want to know.”

yeonjun sighed in pure frustration. it was like talking to a brick wall. “beomgyu, please, just shut up for a second-”

beomgyu’s eyes grew wide and yeonjun wanted to sock himself in the face. “you intrude our dorm and you have the audacity to tell me to shut up?” 

yeonjun’s arms tightened around beomgyu as the boy tried to wiggle free. he could see taehyun growing anxious out of the corner of his eye and he willed the balance wizard to let them hash this out themselves. by some grace from above, taehyun remained still, observing impatiently. “please, you know i’m in love with you and you know that’s not what i meant.”

beomgyu’s eyes all but popped out of his skull. “you’re what?”

shit, yeonjun thought. guess beomgyu didn’t know that. “in love with you?”

suddenly, beomgyu shoved him hard. a humorless laugh left his pretty lips. “you’re kidding me right? i saw the way soobin was looking at you. i saw it and i don’t want to get in between you two. i don’t want to be somewhere i’m not welcomed. if all you wanted to do was study you could have told me. you didn’t need to kiss me and make me feel special. i was fine with us just being friends, yeonjun.”

yeonjun felt his face turn red in disbelief. “soobin? friends? what the hell are you talking about?” yeonjun reached out and brought the boy back into his arms once more, “beomgyu, i literally hold your hand every chance i get because i want to. because i love holding your hand. i kiss you because i want to. because kissing you makes me happy and makes my heart feel all weird and fast. i do it for me, because i want to. not because i’m trying to make fun of you or take advantage of you. i touch you and hold you, and you don’t think i’m remotely into you? are you serious?”

yeonjun could hear taehyun either clearing his throat or suppressing a huge burst of laughter. but he didn’t care about that. all he could focus on was the tears filling beomgyu’s eyes. “i guess i didn’t really think of it like that.”

yeonjun chuckled softly. “obviously not, angel.” beomgyu’s cheeks took on a dusty rose hue at the nickname. yeonjun leaned down and pressed two cool pecks to each of his cheeks. “you understand now, right?” 

beomgyu shook his head and leaned in so only yeonjun could hear, “prove it.” 

yeonjun smiled before pulling beomgyu snugly against him and bringing their lips together for a kiss that made every desire and emotion obvious for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope this ending makes up for how long it took me to write it lmao! and remember! this isn't the last of the wizard101 squad! you'll be seeing them again! thank you so much once again! if you see any typos no you didn't. i wrote this in less than thirty minutes, completely on a whim.


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